t scarf that was made into a sling. In the lantern
light I could see the yellow and black stripes. And he pushed against
the stone with the stick that he had in his free hand, and started the
boat off.

All I could say was just "Bert!" And I held the lantern close to him as
he sat down. There was a long cut on his face and he didn't have any
hat or jacket on and his trousers were all torn and dirty.

"Where--did--you--where is Skinny?" I asked him.

"Ever see a tiger use a crutch before?" he said. "I'm a punk tiger--
what d'ye say."

"Royal--Royal Bengal," Westy said.

"The kid is down near the Hudson shore," Bert said, in that easy way he
had; "he's at Camp McCord. He's come up in the world since you saw
him."

"Bert," I said, "tell me--tell us--quick."

"Not much to tell," he said, "except Skinny and I are both on the job.
We're in the hands of the Gold Dust Twins."

"The which?" I blurted out.

"That's them," he said, "and if you ever want to guy those fellows
you'd better not do it when I'm around. They're fourteen karat gold
dust, that's what. Skinny walked around to their camp this morning, to
ask them not to believe that he took the money."

"Poor little codger," Westy said.

"Oh, he isn't so poor," Bert said. "He's in soft with that pair. He
went around and asked them _please_ not to believe it--_please_. Do you
get that? _Please_. He asked them not to take the money if anyone gave
it to them, because it _really wasn't theirs_. That's him. They kept
him to lunch and told him they believed him and that nobody could cram
any money down their throats with a ramrod. Hey? What do you think of
that?"

"They may be green campers, but they're the whitest green campers I
ever heard of," I said.

"You said it," Bert shouted. "They told Skinny to stay right there with
them and never mind about the fellows over at camp. They told him he
could have the tent and the flag and the canoe instead of the cross,
and to just stay and make himself at home. When they started for the
races down below Catskill, they left him sitting in the canoe--happy--
with a capital H.

"After that you know what happened. Skinny and the canoe and the whole
shebang went pell-mell through the valley. Lucky the twins weren't
there. When I got to Catskill with Skinny, who should we meet but the
twins and I told them everything that happened--how you and I rescued
Skinny and all that."

I said, "How on earth did you get to Catskill wi