in houses for
news of the tramp or his confederates, I'll go to the police and
constables. I'll ask if they have arrested any tramps recently, and,
if they have, I'll ask them to let me see the 'hobo' prisoners."

"What good will that do?"

"I'll tell you. I have an idea that though the burglar who got in
here may not be a regular tramp, yet he disguises himself like one
at times, and may be known to other tramps. If I can get on the
trail of Happy Harry, as he calls himself, I may locate the other
men. Tramps would be very likely to remember such a peculiar chap as
Happy Harry, and they will tell me where they had last seen him.
Then I will have a starting point."

"Well, that may be a good plan," assented Mr. Swift. "At any rate it
will do no harm to try. A tramp locked up in a country police
station will very likely be willing to talk. Go ahead with that
scheme, Tom, but don't get into any danger. How long will you be
away?"

"I don't know. A week, perhaps; maybe longer. I'll take plenty of
money with me, and stop at country hotels overnight."

Tom lost no time in putting his plan into execution. He packed some
clothes in a grip, which he attached to the rear of his motor-cycle,
and then having said good-by to his father, started off. The first
three days he met with no success. He located several tramps in
country lock-ups, where they had been sent for begging or loitering,
but none of them knew Happy Harry or had ever heard of a tramp
answering his description.

"He ain't one of us, youse can make up your mind to dat," said one
"hobo" whom Tom interviewed. "No real knight of de highway goes
around in a disguise. We leaves dat for de story-book detectives.
I'm de real article, I am, an' I don't know Happy Harry. But, fer
dat matter, any of us is happy enough in de summer time, if we don't
strike a burgh like dis, where dey jugs you fer panhandlin'."

In general, Tom found the tramp willing enough to answer his
questions, though some were sullen, and returned only surly growls
to his inquiries.

"I guess I'll have to give it up and go back home," he decided one
night. But there was a small town, not many miles from Shopton,
which he had not yet visited, and he resolved to try there before
returning. Accordingly, the next morning found him inquiring of the
police authorities in Meadton. But no tramps had been arrested in
the last month, and no one had seen anything of a tramp like Happy
Harry or three myst