ng if you have him arrested. We want to give him a free hand for
a time, and see what he will do. He's a crook, and he's bound to show
it! And another thing," the boy went on, "we don't want anyone to know
that he is under suspicion. We just want him watched."

"You're handling the case," smiled Canfield, "and I'll take any steps
you advise. I can't tell you how sorry I am that I brought the detective
in here this morning!"

"Well," Will said, "we put up a bluff about getting out of town and
perhaps we can make that stick. We can take a train out and come back in
on a lonely freight, and get into the mine without his knowing anything
about it. The mine is the best place to work from, anyway!"

"That's why I wanted to know how soon the mine could be pumped out!"
stated Tommy. "I don't care about wading around in a mess of water
that's blacker than a stack of black cats."

"I think I can have the mine fairly dry by the time you boys get out of
town and back again!" laughed Canfield.

"Well," Tommy said, "then you'd better get a couple of dry-goods boxes
and fill them full of good things to eat, and drop 'em down to the first
level. Perhaps you know of a cosy little chamber there where we can set
up housekeeping."

"I know just the place," said the caretaker. "To the left of the old
tool house there's a room where odd articles of every description have
been stored for any number of years. The blacksmith and the fire-boss
used to go there to smoke and tell stories, if I remember right."

"Does anyone ever go there now?" asked Will.

"Not that I know of," was the reply.

"Then we'll drop down there some time towards morning," Will decided.
"And in the meantime," he added, with a wink at his chums, "we'll be
looking for a boy tramp out in the railroad yards."

"What do you mean by that?" asked the caretaker.

"Oh, I've just got an idea," replied Will, "that there's a kid hanging
around this part of the country whom we ought to interview."

"But I don't understand."

"You wait until we get hold of him, and you'll understand all right!"
laughed Will. "We just need that boy!"

"But how do you know there is such a boy?" urged the caretaker.

"He gets it out of a dream book!" Tommy chuckled.

"Do you mean to say that there is some go-between between the boys who
may or may not be in the mine and some persons outside who are
interested in them?" asked the caretaker.

"I didn't say anything of the kind!" replied