't know you had an awful _thief_ for a chum, did you, Fred?"
the other went on, laying emphasis on that one suggestive word, and
frowning.

"Rats! what sort of stuff are you giving me now, anyway, Bristles?"

"Well, some people think that way, Fred; you ask Miss Alicia Muster,
f'rinstance," grumbled the other, shaking his head dolefully.

"But she's your rich old aunt, Bristles!" cried Fred, more surprised
than ever.

"That doesn't make any difference," complained the boy who was in
trouble; "she believes I took 'em, all the same; 'cause, you see, I
just _happened_ to drop in to see her twice inside the last week, worse
luck for me; and, Fred, each time one of 'em disappeared the funniest
way ever."

"Go on and tell me what you mean; I can only guess that your aunt has
met with some sort of loss. But why should she try to lay it on you,
Bristles?"

"Huh! you don't know how good that makes me feel, Fred, just to think
that one feller isn't goin' to believe me a thief," the other boy went
on, drawing a long breath. "Why, even over at our house I seem to
notice 'em all lookin' kinder suspicious-like at me; just as if they
couldn't quite make up their minds whether I might 'a been tempted to
take 'em or not."

"Take what?" demanded Fred, determined to learn the cause of his chum's
trouble.

"Why," Bristles went on, "don't you remember that time I took you over
to see my queer old maiden aunt, who's got the rheumatics so bad, and
lives in the big house all alone with a colored woman, and all her
silly pets,--cats, squawkin' crows she cares for like they might be
humans; and with that big bulldog chained under her window?"

"Sure, I remember all that; keep going, now you've got started?" Fred
broke in.

"And don't you remember her showin' us that collection of pretty stones
she said were opals from a Mexican mine she had an interest in long
ago?" the other asked, almost breathlessly.

"That's right, Bristles; and you said they just about caught your eye
the worst kind," Fred observed. "Fact is, the old lady seemed to be
tickled because you showed such a fancy for those milky stones that
looked like 'moonlight,' as she called it."

"Gee! you remember too much, Fred," complained the other, with a
grimace. "Because you see, it was that silly remark of mine that's gone
and got me into a peck of trouble. I really didn't care so much for the
things as I let on; but you know, my aunt is as rich as all get out;
and i