other fellow or fellows then? Tell me that. Come on now,
tell me that."

Bob kept silent. He had no love for Buck Looker and his gang, who had
always tried to injure him, but he was not going to inform.

"See," said Mr. Larsen, misunderstanding his silence. "When I ask you,
you can't tell me. You're the fellows that did it, all right, and you'll
pay me for it or I'll have you put in jail, that's what I'll do."

"I saw the fellows who were firing snowballs in this direction," spoke
up Mr. Talley, a caterer, pushing his way through the throng. "I nearly
bumped into them as they were running away. Buck Looker was one of them.
I saw his face plainly and can't be mistaken. The others I'm not so sure
of, but I think they were Carl Lutz and Terry Mooney.

"For my part, Mr. Larsen," he continued, "I don't see how a snowball
could break that heavy plate-glass window, anyway. My windows are no
heavier, and they've often had snowballs come against them without doing
any harm. Are you sure it wasn't something else that smashed the glass?"

"Dead sure," replied Larsen. "Come inside and see for yourself."

He led the way into his store, and Mr. Talley, the boys, and a number of
others crowded in after him.

"Look," said Larsen, pointing to a piece of dress goods that had been
hanging in the window. "See where the snow has splashed against it?
There's no question that a snowball did it. You can see the bits of snow
around here yet if you'll only look."

This was true and the evidence seemed conclusive. But just then Bob's
keen eyes detected something else. He stooped down and brought up quite
a large sharp-edged stone which still had some fragments of snow
adhering to it and held it up for all to see.

"Here's the answer," he said. "This stone was packed in the snowball,
and that is why it smashed the window!"

CHAPTER III

THE STUTTERING VOICE

There was a stir of interest and exclamations of surprise as those in
the store crowded closer to get a better view.

"That explains it," said Mr. Talley, as he examined the missile. "I was
sure that no mere ball of snow could break that heavy window. To put
such a stone in a snowball was little less than criminal," he went on
gravely. "If that had hit any one on the temple it would almost
certainly have killed him."

"It was coming straight for my head when I dodged," said Bob.

"That's another proof that it wasn't any ball we threw that broke the
window," put in Jo