, all right, seeing that I'm more than ever convinced I'm on the
right track. Here, smell that, both of you and tell me what it reminds
you of."

He thrust the queer, sharp-pointed knife that had been taken from the
woman into the hand of Lil Artha.

That individual immediately raised it to his nose, took one good smell,
and made a wry face.

"Ugh! rank fishy odor, all right!" he declared.

"Then look back a bit, Lil Artha," Elmer continued. "Don't you remember
that in the mill and cottage we discovered a strong fishy smell when we
tried to investigate that underground place?"

"You're right, we did," assented the tall scout; "it made me feel a bit
squeamish, too, for if there's one thing I can't stomach it's rank fish.
Ugh!"

"I see what you're leading up to, Elmer," announced Mark, briskly, "and
I must say it looks as if there might be a whole lot of truth in it,
too."

"These Italians are often fishermen. A cousin of mine once told me that
along the Gulf coast and around New Orleans the whole fishing industry
lies in their hands," Elmer went on.

"Then you believe this bunch is getting fish out of Munsey mill pond,
and selling them, perhaps over in Scarsdale?" said Mark.

"They are netting fish illegally, I imagine," Elmer answered. "That
would explain their alarm. Perhaps the game warden has been around and
threatened to have them hauled in if they didn't take warning. And ever
since that time they've been on the nervous lookout."

"Gee, I bet you now that's what it means, fellows!" declared Lil Artha,
filled with new enthusiasm, as he grasped the startling idea advanced by
the scout master.

"And I never saw so many big frogs as there are around here," Elmer went
on.

"That's because even the boys keep away from the haunted mill," Mark
added.

"You know how frogs sell in the market, and how it would pay anybody to
catch a few hundred such jumboes as there are here," Elmer remarked.

"Well, it does take you to figure things out just, I must say," laughed
Mark.

"He's a wizard, that's what," declared Lil Artha, whose admiration for
his leader was boundless.

"Not at all," smiled the other; "a little common sense was all that was
needed. The strong odor of fish in that cellar put me on the track
first. You know there's an old saying to the effect that where there's
smoke there must be fire."

"And then this knife, too--like as not the woman does all the cleaning
of the fish. I thought she remin