one of the brightest
young reporters going. Yet Len admits he's stumped. All the
while the merchants are fearing that the burglar will bring about
bigger losses. Dick Prescott, if you could catch that burglar,
and see him sent off where he belongs, you'd be doing a vastly
greater service to the community than you possibly could by helping
the country prepare for a war that is thirty or forty years away."

"I wouldn't mind having a crack at the burglar scare, either,"
laughed Dick. "But the question is, how am I going to go about
it to catch the fellow? He has baffled all the police, and even
Len Spencer. What show have I for finding the rascal?"

"Just the same, Dick, I believe you would catch him, if you'd
set your mind and your energies to it. Will you do it? Will
you put in a week trying to run down this burglar and give 'The
Blade' the first chance at the story? I'll agree, in advance,
to pay you for whatever time you'll put in on it for a week, if
even you are not successful in running him down."

"I'll think it over," Dick replied, with a quiet smile. "I'll
talk it over with Dave."

"There's another mighty bright young fellow!" cried the editor.
"Now, why can't you get Darrin to go into it with you? I'll
pay Darrin for his time, too."

Dave, when the project was sprung on him, gave his hearty assent.

"It won't do any harm to have a try at it, anyway, Dick," urged
Darrin. "It'll wake us up a bit, too. Not that I've any real
and abiding idea that we're going to catch Mr. Burglar."

"If we're in earnest we're going to catch him," declared Prescott.
"That's the old Gridley High School way, you know. What well
start on we've got to put through."

Night after night, in that cold January week, Dick and Dave slipped
out late at night, and prowled about through the business district
of Gridley. Very often the chums ran across the police, but both
were known well to the police, and were not challenged. Indeed,
the police soon learned that Dick and Dave were employed by "The
Blade" for the purpose of assisting in the efforts to capture
the mysterious burglar or burglars.

In that week two more "breaks" happened, and each time the thief
or thieves got away with valuable booty.

"You youngsters don't seem to be having any luck," remarked Editor
Pollock. "But keep on the case a little longer. I know you'll
land something sooner or later. Keep ahead, just as if you had
to score a touchdown bef