traced up we want to shield ourselves by
saying we went off hunting and when we got back could find nothing of him
and the boat, and had to get a stranger to take us ashore."

"Ah, I see. Very good."

"Now we want to be going. We'll look for you in Chambersburgh inside of a
week. Don't fail us if you value your secret."

"I will be on hand."

"You ought to pay us more than five hundred," put in Toglet. "You are going
to make a pile out of this."

"How do you know anything about what I am going to make?" asked the squire,
in great surprise.

"The boy told us about his property and the papers that were missing."

"I know nothing of that."

"Humph! We can put two and two together. You'll make a fortune out of that
land, no doubt."

"I know nothing of that land you mention."

"Maybe you don't."

"And I haven't his missing papers," went on Squire Paget, and for once he
spoke the truth.

"Then what's your aim in getting him out of the way?"

"That is my affair."

"Of course it is," broke in Martin. "But you might make it a bit more than
five hundred."

"I am poor, gentlemen. I had to do what has been done to keep me from
ruin."

Both of the rascals laughed at his words, but they could get nothing more
out of the squire, and a few minutes later, after a little more
conversation concerning poor Ralph, they separated. The two villains who
had pushed the boy over the cliff went back for their guns and game-bags,
and then set out for a town at the north of the lake.

Squire Paget watched them out of sight, and then hurried back to his
mansion. Somehow, he did not feel safe until he had locked himself in his
library.

"At last the boy is out of the way," he murmured, to himself, as he sank
into an easy-chair. "It was accomplished much easier than I imagined it
would be, thanks to my intimate knowledge of the character of that rascal
Martin, and Toglet, his tool. Now what is to be done next? It will not do
to get the widow out of the way--that would excite suspicion. I had better
wait and watch her closely. Maybe she'll be unable to hold her cottage with
her son no longer at hand to earn enough to keep them, and she'll be forced
to sell out at a low figure, and then--by Jove!" he exclaimed, suddenly.
"That's a grand idea! It's a wonder I didn't think of it before!"

The new idea made the squire walk up and down the library rapidly. He was a
great schemer and could evolve a whole transaction, no matter how