on the
table. "It was written by Laura Bentley to Susie Sharp, and mentions
their having had lunch at the camp of the high school muckers.
And this message gives a clear enough idea of where their camp
is, too. Laura must have dropped the card in the street, for
that's where I found it."

"Say, that's a great find!" chuckled Bayliss.

"You may wager that it is," grinned Dodge. "We broke up one night
of sleep for the muckers with those bombs, but I've an idea that
the night we shot off sixty rounds of blank shotgun shells that
they had already moved. But now I have a brand-new one that we
can use and make them break camp and run for home as fast as they
can go. Then we'll pass the story of their scare all around Gridley,
and they'll never hear the last of the laugh against them."

"I'm all attention, old fellow!" Bayliss protested eagerly.

"So are we!" thought Dick grimly, as he glanced at Dave and Harry.

CHAPTER XVIII

A KETTLE OF HOT WATER FOR SOMEONE

It was a wonderfully elaborate scheme to which the high school
boys were privileged to listen. Such a scheme, really showed
Dodge, in a way, to be possessed of more brains than people in
Gridley commonly credited him with possessing.

But Dick smiled at Dave Darrin's scowl as the plot was unfolded
in the next booth.

Fortunately for Dick and his chums the steak order was delayed
in the serving. Thus Dodge and Bayliss finished their ice cream
and left the place without discovering the presence of their intended
victims.

"Say, aren't that pair just going to enjoy themselves at our expense?"
chuckled Hazelton, after the plotters had left.

"Unless I miss my guess, they're going to dance to our music to-night,"
laughed Dick gleefully.

Their meal was served soon after, and eaten with relish. As soon
as it had been finished Dick asked the waiter for a sheet of paper
and envelope.

"Don't worry about any weird doings you may hear of from our camp,"
Prescott wrote his mother. "We've just learned of a big scare
Dodge and Bayliss are planning to spring on us up at our camp.
We're going to turn the tables on them---that's all. But I write
this for fear you may hear some awful tales when that pair reach
Gridley."

As they left the restaurant, Dick returned to the post-office,
mailing this second letter to his mother.

"Now, we must buy a few things here," Dick explained to his friends.
"Then we must get out of this village by a back road,