ovement? and what has
Crazy David to do with it?"

"And so you really think he knows something about at?" Ben Logan
enquired.

"Sure. I could tell you a number of things but my position as
postmaster compels me to be silent." This was merely another of Andy's
methods, and it always impressed his hearers in a marked degree.

"But what about that chap who was working for old Squabbles?" Billy
Dexter asked. "He seems to be mixed up somehow with the affair. He
spends most of his time now at the falls with the engineers. I
understand that he was the one who got the Petersons to take in Crazy
David and that girl, Betty Bean."

"Oh, he's a queer one," Sandy Morton replied. "I met him the other day
on the road and asked him what was going on up at the falls and who
were the men back of the work? My, you should have seen the look he
gave me. It was 'Mind your own business,' as plain as if he had said
it in words. I ought to have knocked him down, for it was a dead
insult."

"Better not try anything like that, Sandy," Ben Logan laughingly gibed.
"He'd wipe up the dust with you in no time, if I'm not much mistaken.
Anyway, he minds his own business, and that's something in his favour."

"I believe he's working for the bunch," the store-keeper volunteered.
"I cashed a cheque of his some time ago, and---- But, there, I must
not let out secrets."

While the people of Creekdale were consumed with curiosity at what was
taking place at the falls, Peter Sinclair was becoming filled with
anxiety, which increased as the days passed into weeks. Lois found it
harder than ever to get along with him, and she always dreaded his
home-coming every evening from the city. Occasionally he travelled on
the river steamer, but as a rule Dick drove him to the city in the
morning in the car and brought him back at night. This was to the
young man's liking, as he found it lonely in the country where he
missed his boon companions. Lois was glad that this was so as she
could have the days free to follow her own inclinations. But she was
always careful to have dinner ready when her father and brother
arrived, and to make their home-coming as bright and pleasant as
possible.

Whether Mr. Sinclair appreciated this attention Lois did not know, as
he never made any comment. At times, he treated her as if she were
merely a housekeeper, and not his own daughter interested in his
welfare. He ate and slept in the house and spent his Sund