pend it?' asked Sydney, with an amused smile.

A serious look came into old Dan's face. 'I'd send my daughter away to
the seaside for a change,' he said. 'The doctor tells me it would do her
more good than all his medicines. But what's all this,' he asked, 'about
twenty pounds reward? I suppose it's some joke of yours, young
gentlemen?'

'It's no joke,' said Charlie; 'at least, Lady Winterton does not think
so. She is on a visit to our house, you know; and this morning she
discovered that she had lost a valuable necklace. Father was so angry
that such a thing should have happened that he at once offered twenty
pounds reward for the recovery of the necklace.'

Dan thought seriously awhile. Then he said, 'I wonder if the young chap
who roused me up this morning at six o'clock, because his horse had cast
a shoe, had anything to do with it?'

Both boys were instantly on the alert. 'What was he like?' they asked,
in a breath.

Dan described the stranger as minutely as he could. 'He had a small bag
slung round him,' he finished, 'and seemed in a great hurry to be off.'

'That's the thief, you may depend upon it,' said Charlie. 'If we can
only track him, Dan, you shall share the profits.'

Dan laughed. 'He didn't look much like a thief, now I come to think of
it,' said he. 'He had too honest a face for that.'

'Oh, you never know,' was Sydney's comment. 'I dare say he's a thorough
bad 'un, if the truth is known. Which way did he go, Dan, when he left
you?'

The blacksmith then told all he knew, and the boys, as soon as Charlie's
bicycle was ready, started off, as they fondly hoped, on the track of
the thief. After a good long ride, they suddenly came upon the object of
their search. He was leisurely taking photographs on the outskirts of a
wood. No horse was visible, so he had evidently been home to breakfast,
and had started forth again.

As the lads drew near he eyed them with interest, his idea being to
photograph them.

Charlie, plucking up all the courage he possessed, went straight to the
point. 'I wonder if you would mind,' said he, growing very red, 'if we
looked into that case of yours?'

'And what for, young stranger, may I ask?' was the reply, given with a
slightly American accent.

'Because--because,' stammered Charlie, 'we think you have something
there belonging to Lady Winterton.'

'Upon my word,' laughed the young fellow, 'you are a "cute" chap. As a
matter of fact, I have, but how did you kno