he complained severely of the "stinging" in his hands, feet
and chin.

"I'm going out," proposed Dave, reaching for his cap and coat. "I'm
going to see for myself just how cold it is."

No one offered to accompany Darrin. He paused, outside, to tap on one of
the window panes. Two minutes after that he was back, pounding for
admittance.

"Br-r-r-r!" Dave greeted his comrades, as he stepped inside. "Say, I
don't want any more of being out to-night. I'll bet it's away down below
zero. And how the wind howls and cuts!"

It took Hen Dutcher, after he got started, considerable time to eat his
fill. In the meantime the others, restrained by a sense of what was due
from hosts, held back their curiosity.

"There, I don't believe I could eat another mouthful," declared Dutcher,
at last, pushing back from the table.

"Now, Hen," invited Dick, "come over to the fire and tell us how you
came to be here."

"Why, I just naturally was hereabouts," declared Hen evasively.

"That won't quite do," replied Dick, shaking his head. "What brought you
into these woods to-night? Did you expect that we'd invite you in to
join us?"

"Nope. Not quite," Hen replied, a crafty look in his eyes.

"Then out with the truth, Hen Dutcher!" broke in Dave.

"I don't have to tell you fellows, do I?"

"Yes, if you want to stay here to-night!" blurted Tom Reade.

"You fellows wouldn't put me out in the cold again!" dared Hen.

"Wouldn't we?" retorted Greg Holmes.

"I just wanted a tramp, and took one," replied Hen sulkily.

"That's too thin!" snapped Dan Dalzell.

"Then you fellows can invent your own story," offered Hen.

"Out with him, fellows!" called Harry Hazelton, making a dive for Hen.

"Don't you dare!" blustered Dutcher tremulously.

"Out with Hen, if he doesn't tell the truth, and the whole of it,"
advised Tom Reade.

"Dick, you ain't going to let these fellows do anything of the sort, are
you?" quavered Hen. "Why, I'd die if I had to be put out into the storm
again."

"Why can't you tell us the truth, Hen?" asked Dick quietly, fixing a
searching gaze on Dutcher. Then, with a sudden flash of inspiration,
Dick added, "Who was out this way with you?"

"No one," Hen replied.

"Don't tell us that," warned young Prescott. "Who were the other fellows
in the crowd?"

"I tell you I came alone," Hen insisted, with rising color, as he
shifted under Dick's steady gaze. "Fred and----"

"Fred--who?" cross-examined Dick.

"Nobod