Finding the young man he had seized, a much harder problem than he was
prepared to handle, and frightened by John's cries, the stranger gave Ree
a shove and sprang toward the window.

"Help! Robbers!" yelled John again, and now the stranger had one leg out
of the window. But he got no further. Ree seized him about the body; the
robber seized him in turn, and his foot striking the ladder by which he
had climbed up, it went tumbling to the ground. With a frightful oath the
fellow endeavored to throw Ree after it. For a second they both balanced
on the window sill at the very verge of falling. Then John seized the
robber's hair, and dealt him a blow with the butt of his pistol. He
raised the weapon to strike again, but Ree had now secured his release
from the villain's grasp and fired at him just as the fellow plunged to
the ground, leaving a bunch of his black hair quivering in John's hand.

The bullet took effect, for the boys found blood on the ground beneath
the window next morning; but the robber dashed around a corner out of
range at such speed that there was no opportunity to fire a second time.

A pounding on the door told the youthful travelers that the house had
been aroused, and they lost no time in admitting the landlord,
accompanied by the greatly excited peddler.

"What's all the row about?" demanded the tavern-keeper, holding a lighted
candle over his shoulder.

"I want to investigate before I say what it is _all_ about," Ree
answered, emphasizing the "all."

"A pretty sort of a place, this is!" put in John indignantly. "We might
have been murdered in our beds!"

"How can I help it, boy? Just you keep your breeches on!"

"I'll have to put them on first," John ejaculated, and forthwith
proceeded to do so.

Ree took the landlord's candle and turned back the bed clothing. He found
the leather wallet containing their money, undisturbed, but as he picked
it up, he noticed a hole in the sheets and tick of the bed.

"Look, here," he exclaimed, "here is where the row you complain of,
began. The man who has just gone out of the window, evidently crawled
under the bed and having cut a hole through the tick, reached for our
wallet. His cold hand on my bare skin waked me up. The question is, how
did he know where the money was?"

"The skunk!" exclaimed the peddler, eyeing the tavern-keeper sharply.

"How should I know anything about it?" the landlord hotly responded. "I
ain't responsible for there being ro