he reformed hobo came into the
room. Sure enough, he was holding a brand-new five-dollar bill in
his extended hand, and there was a look of actual pleasure to be
seen on his grizzled face.

"There you are, Mister Man," he said as he thrust the money at the
farmer; "now you sign that bill in a hurry, and never show your face
here again. We'll either find another party to deliver us milk,
or go without."

Hugh saw something that gave him an unexpected thrill. It was a
simple matter, and no doubt escaped Thad's attention entirely, yet
it might mean a great deal. As he looked closely at the fresh and
new bank bill of the denomination of five dollars, Hugh saw that
it had only three distinct creases marked across its face, as though
it might have been taken from some flat receptacle like a bill-book;
certainly when Brother Lu declared that he had such a bill tied up
in his bandanna handkerchief he prevaricated, for it would under such
conditions have been crumpled instead of looking so smooth! Hugh
from that moment began to smell a rat!

CHAPTER XV

THE PUZZLE IS FAR FROM BEING SOLVED

When, a little later on, the two chums came away from the Hosmer home,
Thad seemed unusually quiet, for him. Hugh, noticing this, and
wishing to ascertain whether the other had begun to get on the track
of the truth, presently remarked:

"What makes you so glum, Thad? Coming over you rattled away like a
blue streak, and now you haven't so much as said ten words since we
started back home?"

"Well, to tell you the truth," admitted Thad, shaking his head after
the manner of one who is sadly puzzled, "I just don't know what to
say, after seeing that little affair."

"Do you mean you feel badly because Matilda was so reduced in finances
that she couldn't even meet a small account like her milk bill?" asked
Hugh, fishing for a bite.

"Why, yes, partly that," said Thad, slowly; "but it knocked me all in
a heap to see that old rascal of a Brother Lu walk out with the last
dollar he had in the wide world, and gladly hand it over to liquidate
that same account. Say, if we didn't just know he was a bad one,
I'd call that a really generous act."

"Oh," chuckled Hugh, "not so very generous, after all, when you come
to examine things closer. Don't forget, Thad, that he's been sponging
on that poor couple for a good many weeks already; and then, if our
calculations are correct, he means to fasten on them for keeps."

"That's