in his actions. If these two men were the
ones the gentleman stopping at Jack's house wanted to find, they must be
smart enough to read his secret, unless he took warning.

No sooner had he come abreast of the car than looking up he found himself
staring into the dark face of a man who had a cruel look about him. What
thrilled Paul, however, was the fact that one of his eyes was undoubtedly
artificial. He had guessed this fact when Jack stated that the party
_stared_ so at him.

All doubt was gone now, and he understood that by the strangest of luck
he had come upon the parties for whom Mr. Pender was searching. The
official must have known that they were headed this way for some purpose
or other.

"Live around here, bub?" asked the man with the glass eye, as he looked
piercingly at Paul.

"Yes, sir; in Stanhope," replied the boy, surprised himself to find how
steady his voice turned out to be under the trying circumstances.

"How far ahead is that place?" continued the man.

"About half a mile, sir. You can see the steeple of the Methodist church
after you turn that bend ahead," and Paul pointed with a steady finger.

"Huh! I wonder now if either of you happen to know a Mr. Solus Smithers?"
and as he put the question the man shot a quick glance toward his
companion; at which the shorter party nodded his big head, and grinned
approvingly.

Paul turned to his chum.

"Say, Jack, isn't that the name of the man who took the old Grimes farm
up at the milldam?" he asked, though he knew positively that it was so.

"Smithers--why, yes, I reckon it is. Is he a tall man, with a hooked
nose; and does he dip snuff?" queried Jack, innocently enough.

"That's Solus to a dot. You see, boys, he's from North Caroliny, where
even the wimmen use snuff, only they rub it on their teeth with a stick.
Now, mebbe one of you boys would be so obligin' as to direct us to the
shortest way to where this old mill stands," continued the man with the
bogus orb.

"I guess the quickest way to get there is to drive through Stanhope, and
pick up the Deerfield road on the other side. It's only a few miles off;
but the road turns lots of times to avoid the hills."

Paul noted that the taller man seemed to invariably look to his companion
for support. It was as though they worked in common, and neither wished
to become responsible for action without the other's assent.

After an interchange of low words, which the boys did not catch, the
spo