find him in the post-office; didn't I,
Uncle Dick?"

"I'd just got back from the fields and was after mail," Mr. Gordon
explained. "I meant to stop and get directions from the Watterbys how
to find the Saunders farm. Well, as it happened, everything was
planned for the best."

"How did you get down from the loft, Bob?" Betty asked curiously.

"Cut the string that tied my wrists on a rusty scythe I found as I
was crawling over the floor," said Bob. "Then, of course, I could
pull out that nasty gag and untie my feet. I was a bit stiff at
first, and I guess I fell down the hayloft ladder, but I was in such
a hurry I'm not sure. The sharpers had left their club, and I brought
that along for good luck. And, Aunt Hope, I'm starving to death!"

"Bless your heart, of course you are!" And Miss Hope hurried out to
the kitchen, tucking Mr. Gordon's check into her apron pocket as she
went. "I'll stir up some waffles, I think," she murmured, reaching
for the egg bowl.

Mr. Gordon would not stay for dinner, for he was anxious, he said, to
get to a telephone. He would spend the night with the Watterbys and
be back the next morning with "an important some one."

"I'm so excited I can't walk straight," declared Betty, skipping
between table and stove in an effort to help Aunt Hope with the
dinner. "Goodness, it seems forever till to-morrow morning!"

Miss Hope and Miss Charity went about the rest of the day in a daze,
and Bob and Betty, who could not settle down to any task, went out to
the barn and enacted the scene of Bob's imprisonment all over again.

They were up at daybreak the next morning, and Miss Hope insisted on
dusting and sweeping the whole house, though, as Bob said, it was
hardly likely that their visitors would insist on seeing the attic.

"It isn't the house Mr. Gordon is interested in," the boy maintained
sagaciously. "There's oil here, Aunt Hope," and this time Miss Hope
did not contradict him.

At ten minutes to eleven Mr. Gordon drove up with a small,
sandy-haired man who wore large horn-rimmed spectacles. He was
introduced to Miss Hope and her sister as Mr. Lindley Vernet, and
then the four went into the parlor and closed the door.

"Children not wanted," said Mr. Gordon, grinning over his shoulder at
Bob and Betty, left sitting on the porch.

"Children!" snorted Betty, shaking an indignant fist in pretended
anger. "If it hadn't been for us, or rather for you, Bob, this farm
would have been sold for