o much concerned
about his welfare had many times in the past referred to him as "that
long-legged imp who ought to be taught better manners at home;" for
Colon as a younger boy had been rather inclined to be saucy.

Hearing the sound of voices, Corney and Semi-Colon had by now entered
the mill, and were working the arm of their newly-found chum like a pump
handle.

"But one thing makes me sore," said Bristles; "and that is, we don't
know any more'n we did before who did this business. They were boys, you
said, Colon; but how can we tell whether they hailed from Riverport or
Mechanicsburg?"

"I give you my word----" began Felix Wagner; when Colon interrupted him.

"Say, there might be a way to tell," he remarked, jubilantly.

"As how?" demanded the eager Bristles.

"Why, you see, when they jumped me I gave 'em all I knew how, and
kicked and hit as hard as I could," the tall boy went on.

"Think you marked any of 'em for keeps, Colon?" asked Bristles,
feverishly.

"I'm dead sure," Colon continued; "that once I landed a straight from
the shoulder jab square in the eye of a feller; because I heard him yell
out like it hurt. And say, perhaps if you look around, you might find
somebody with a black and blue eye."

Bristles gave a whoop that echoed through the dusty, cobwebbed mill.

"You got him, all right, sure you did, Colon!" he cried. "And it was a
peach of a hit, too. It was Buck and his crowd that played this mean
trick on you. How do I know? Why right now one of his fellers, Oscar
Jones, is nursing a bruised left eye. Heard him tellin' how he got up
last night, thinkin' he heard the fire bell ring, and run plumb into the
corner of the bureau. Oh! there ain't any more suspicion restin' on your
team-mates, Felix. We all ask you to forget it."

"And let's be getting out of this, boys," Colon spoke up. "I've seen all
I ever want to of the old mill. Never catch me coming up here again, I
tell you."

And so they trooped out into the cheery October sunlight. The broken
door was propped up the best they could manage. No one was caring much,
anyway. They had accomplished their main object in the morning jaunt;
Colon had been found, and he declared that he was as fit as ever to run,
despite his long condition of helplessness, and his hungry state. What
more could they ask?

And as Gabe, the butcher's boy, made a move as if to leave them at the
end of the winding, overgrown lane, Fred insisted on every fellow
sh