het!" cried Josephine Morse.

But Laura only laughed. "We can keep a secret as well as any crowd of
boys--and he knows it," she said.

"Well," said her brother, squatting before the campfire, that was now
burning briskly, and spreading out his jacket to the blaze, while the
legs of his trousers began to steam. "Well, it's about Short and Long."

"Billy Long!" gasped Dorothy, looking at her sister.

"Poor Billy!" added Laura. "What about him?"

"He's missing," said Chet, gravely.

"Missing: The Short and Long of It, eh?" chuckled Jess.

"This is no laughing matter, Jess," declared Launcelot Darby, sharply.
"Haven't you heard of the robbery?"

"At Stresch & Potter's department store?" cried Jess. "Of course. What's
that got to do with Short and Long?"

"Nothing!" declared Chet, vigorously.

"Anybody who says that Billy Long helped in that robbery deserves to be
kicked. He's not that kind of a fellow."

"But he's accused," said Laura, gravely.

"Somebody said they saw him hanging about the rear of the store with
some men Tuesday afternoon. The men appeared to be surveyors. They are
supposed to be the robbers, for nobody seems to know anything about them
at the city engineer's office," Chet continued.

"A small boy had to be put through the little basement window where a
screen was cut out. No man could have slipped through it and then opened
that door for the men. Short and Long is accused--at least, he is
suspected. A policeman went to his house Friday morning; but Billy had
gone away over night."

"That looks suspicious," declared Jess.

"No, it doesn't. It looks as if Billy was scared--as of course he was,"
exclaimed Chet. "Who wouldn't be?"

"That is so," murmured one of the twins.

"Well," sighed Chet, "we heard that he had been seen to take a boat at
Norman's Landing, and thought maybe he'd come over this way. So, as Purt
wanted a sail----"

"And a bath, it seems," chuckled Jess.

"We came over this way, looking into the coves and inlets for the boat
Billy is said to have borrowed. But we didn't see any sign of it, nor
any sign of poor Billy. Of course he is innocent; but he's scared, and
his folks are poor, and Billy was afraid to remain at home, I suppose,
thinking he would get his father into trouble, too."

"It's a mean shame," said Lance. "What if Stresch & Potter were robbed
of ten thousand dollars? They oughtn't to have accused a perfectly
innocent boy of helping in the robbery."

"B