ing 'em out of the gate. Wonder if he'll let us in?"

"He's just got to," said Corney. "I'll tell him Mrs. Colon sent me out
to get the whole bunch, and he'll pass us all right."

Several did get in with the bold Corney, among them Fred and Bristles;
but the main part of the group had to content themselves with kicking
their heels against the fence, and waiting to get any additional news
when their comrades came out.

Inside they found Judge Colon, looking very much flushed. The missing
boy was his nephew, and he was taking more than usual interest in the
matter.

Just now he seemed to be trying to comfort the alarmed mother, who,
being a widow, with her only boy taken away in this mysterious manner,
was much in need of sympathy and advice.

"Depend upon it, Matilda," the judge was saying; "it will prove to be
only some wild prank on the part of his mates; Christopher will turn up
presently, safe and sound. You say he went out last night; do you happen
to know where?"

"He was over to my house, Judge," spoke up Bristles, boldly, wishing to
give all the information in his power.

"Ah! yes, it's you, Andrew, is it?" the gentleman remarked, looking
around. "And about what time did he start away for home, may I ask?"

"It couldn't have been much after ten, sir," replied the other. "We were
playing cribbage, and he got the odd game. Yes, I remember, now, he said
his mother would be in bed anyway when he got home."

"And I did retire about nine, as I usually do," remarked Mrs. Colon,
upon whose face the marks of tears could be plainly seen. "I didn't hear
Christopher come in, because I slept unusually well the early part of
the night. Then came that cruel shock this morning, when I saw his bed
all made up, and knew he hadn't come home at all."

"You went to the door with him; didn't you, Andrew?" the judge went on,
with the persistence a lawyer might be expected to show when he had a
willing witness on the stand, and was bent on getting every fact,
however slight, from him.

"Yes, sir, I even went out to our gate; and we stood there for nearly
five minutes, I guess, talkin' about athletic matters. Then he said
good-night, and walked down the road. There was a moon in the west, and
I could see Colon swinging along in that sturdy way he has. Then I
turned around and went up to bed."

"When you stood there at the gate did anybody pass by?" asked the judge.

"No sir, not a living soul," responded Bristles, after a