e returning to the picnic ground.

As Tom was starting toward home in his boat, wondering what had become
of Andy and trying to think of a reason why the bully should attend
anything as "tame" as a church picnic, the object of his thoughts came
strolling through the trees down to the shore of the lake. The moment
he saw Tom the red-haired lad started back, but the young inventor,
leaping out of his boat, called out:

"Hold on there, Andy Foger, I want to see you!" and there was menace in
Tom's tone.

"But, I don't want to see you!" retorted the other sulkily. "I've got
no use for you."

"No more have I for you," was Tom's quick reply. "But I want to return
you these keys. You dropped them in my boat the other night when you
tried to set it afire. If I ever catch you--"

"My keys! Your boat! On fire!" gasped Andy, so plainly astonished
that Tom knew his surprise was genuine.

"Yes, your keys. You were a little, too quick for me or I'd have
caught you at it. The next time you pick a lock don't leave your keys
behind you," and he held out the jingling ring.

Andy Foger advanced slowly. He took the bunch of keys and looked at
the tag.

"They are mine," he said slowly, as if there was some doubt about it.

"Of course they are," declared Tom. "I found them where you dropped
them--in my boat."

"Do you mean over at the auction?"

"No, I mean down in my boathouse, where you sneaked in the other night
and tried to do some damage.

"The other night!" cried Andy. "I never was near your boathouse any
night and I never lost my keys there! I lost these the day of the
auction, on Mr. Hastings' ground, and I've been looking for them ever
since."

"Didn't you sneak in my boathouse the other night and try to do some
mischief? Didn't you drop them then?"

"No, I didn't," retorted Andy earnestly. "I lost those keys at the
auction, and I can prove it to you. Look, I advertised for them in the
weekly Gazette."

The red-haired lad pulled a crumpled paper from his pocket and showed
Tom an advertisement offering a reward of two dollars for a bunch of
keys on a ring, supposed to have been lost at the auction on Mr.
Hastings' grounds in Lanton. The finder was to return them to Andy
Foger.

"Does that look as if I lost the keys in your boathouse?" demanded the
bully sneeringly. "I wouldn't have advertised them that way if I'd been
trying to keep my visit quiet. Besides, I can prove that I was out of
town s