ow who you be, ye scoundrel!" bawled the farmer.

The young man turned away instantly. Laura saw that he flushed and
then paled again. He did not stop to say a word to the party of young
folk from Centerport. Instead, he stepped into the thick underbrush
and was almost instantly lost to their sight.

Short and Long had hastened to get over the border of the farmer's
posted preserve. But he had brought the trout with him--and it weighed
a good pound and a half!

CHAPTER XX

LAURA KEEPS HER SECRET

They left the farmer threatening vengeance upon the strange young man
who had used his shot-gun to such good purpose.

"That fellow's all right, whoever he is," Lance declared. "And how
quick he was with his gun!"

"He knows how to use one," Short and Long agreed, with admiration. "I
wish I could have thanked him."

"And this dummy here!" added Lance, with a look of disgust at Purt.
"You had that old pistol in your pocket, didn't you?" he demanded of
the dude.

"Ye-es," agreed Purt.

"Then if you had kept still about it, I could have scared that farmer
into holding his dog in leash. Just as glad the brute was shot,
though. He'll be tamed for a while, I bet!"

"It is too bad the dog was trained so badly," Laura said. "It is not
his fault that he was taught to attack people."

"Well!" grunted Short and Long. "If he'd grabbed me, I reckon he'd
have eaten me up before anybody could have helped."

"You had no business on that man's land," said Laura, admonishingly.
"And you _did_ sauce him."

"Ugh! who'd have thought he was so mean?" growled Short and Long.

"Bet you have a care next time," said Lance, grinning. "But who do you
suppose that fellow with the gun was? I'd really like to meet him
again."

"Good sort, whoever he is," Short and Long agreed.

"No farmer."

"Not much! He was city-dressed all right."

Laura listened to their comments, but said nothing. She believed she
could make a good guess as to who the young man was; but she was
keeping that secret to herself.

When she and the three boys rejoined their companions down stream,
they had enough to tell about the adventure without declaring the
identity of the young man with the gun. It was exciting enough to have
had Short and Long almost "chawed up" by a savage dog, as Lance
expressed it.

"And this useless piece of goods," he added taking Purt by the
collar, "made a foozle--right off the reel! I could have scared that
big bully easil