enger they all look cross; and he squeezes into a
seat wondering why people will act so piggish; but let it stop again
for another fare and he grumbles louder than anybody else."

"Yeth, we've waited fifteen minutes for you, Chatz," said Ted, "and
it'd be only fair to give poor, fat Landy ten minutes more."

Chatz immediately took out his little nickel watch and held it in his
hand, just as though he might have been the judge at a sprinting match.

Before five minutes had crept past, however, there was a cry raised.

"Here comes poor old Landy," said Toby, "mounted on his wheezy bicycle,
and pegging for all he's worth. Look at him puffing away, will you?
He just knows he's been keeping us waiting here ever so long, and
that's making him put on so much steam. Wow! he nearly took a header
that time into the ditch. What a splash there would have been, my
countrymen, if he played leap-frog into that mud-puddle!"

The boys sat there on the rail fence and began to greet the coming
bicycle rider with loud shouts.

"Hit her up, Landy!"

"One good turn deserves another, you know."

"A little more power to your left foot, or you'll be in that ditch yet,
Landy!"

"Oh! Landy, does your mother know you're risking your precious old
neck on that beaut of a wheel?"

The fat scout did not cease his exertions until he had reached the
place where his four chums sat on the fence. Then they saw that while
his round face was red, and the perspiration stood out in beads on his
forehead, there was a drawn, almost a scared look on his countenance.

"Hey! what ails the fellow?" burst out Lil Artha, as though discovering
that Landy was trembling more with some mysterious emotion than fatigue.

"Yeth, hurry up and tell uth what's happened!" cried Ted Burgoyne,
jumping off his perch, and hastening to the side of the panting boy.

Landy seemed to swallow something that may have been threatening to
choke him. Then making a great effort, he managed to say a few words.

"Terrible thing's happened, fellows! Knocks the reputation of the Wolf
Patrol all to smithereens!"

Of course, this excited those four scouts as nothing else could have
done.

"Has anything happened to Elmer?" almost shouted Toby.

"No, it's Hen Condit!" answered Landy; "he's gone and stole a lot of
money from his guardian, and lit out, that's what! And him belonging
to the Wolf Patrol, too!"

CHAPTER II

WHEN HEN CONDIT LEFT TOWN

"Hey! say that o