nerve enough to hit the trolley and clear out. There's a nice
bunch of plunder in his suit-case."

"Rich man, poor man, beggar man, thief?" Phil repeated--touching the
buttons on her shirt-waist.

"That would be tellin'."

"Well, don't tell, then. But not mentioning any names that particular
person wouldn't be likely to hang around here," suggested Phil
meditatively.

The sheriff eyed her critically.

"You know who I mean? Sure you ain't seen him?"

"No, I haven't, Jack," replied Phil truthfully.

"If you spot a gent with a suit-case, hop for a telephone and call the
jail, and mebbe I'll whack the reward."

"It doesn't sound like such easy money," Phil replied.

"Charlie and Fred ain't so terribly chummy, I guess," remarked the
sheriff leadingly. "That's why I thought I'd take a look around here. A
fellow as smart as Charlie would pick the unlikeliest place to hide in.
I'll have a word with Fred as I go back. I got a deputy at Stop 7,
watching the cars. If Charlie's in the neighborhood we'll pinch him all
right. So long, Phil."

Whittlesey moved across the barn-lot toward his horse. Phil's mind had
been working busily. Beyond doubt Charles Holton was lurking in the
neighborhood, waiting for a chance to escape. The suit-case pointed to
this clearly. It was undeniably her duty to tell the sheriff of her
discovery, and it had been on the tip of her tongue to do so half a
dozen times during their colloquy at the barn door. Whittlesey was an
old friend and one of her admirations, and it was only the part of good
comradeship to help him.

The remembrance of her last meeting with Charles still flamed angrily in
her heart when she thought of him. There was certainly no reason why
she should shield him from the outstretched arm of the law; yet she had
first hesitated, then rejected the idea of communicating to the sheriff
her knowledge that the plunder with which Charles was seeking to escape
was hidden in the barn. Contemptible as Charles was and doubtless
deserving of his impending punishment, she would not aid in his
apprehension. She did not believe that Fred in like circumstances would
do so; and there was Ethel, their sister, on whom the disgrace of
Charles's arrest would fall heavily.

Whittlesey swung himself into his saddle and rode slowly toward the
highway. Phil returned to the barn, considering whether she should tell
Fred of her discovery of the suit-case.

She stopped short on the threshold, all he