d. "One thing is certain; something
has happened to him."

For Reuben Hinman half-lurched, half-staggered along, yet his
gait did not suggest intoxication. He moved, rather, as one who
is dazed with trouble.

The old man was sobbing, too, with a sound that was pitiful to
hear; as though some great grief were clutching at his heart.

CHAPTER V

DAVE DOES SOME GOOD WORK

"Good evening, Mr. Hinman!" called Dick softly.

The old man started, affrighted.

"Who---who calls?" he quavered.

"One of the boys you talked with, this noon."

"Where are you?"

"Here," answered Dick, throwing his blanket aside, rising and
stepping toward the old man, who, more bent than ever, was shaking
as though from fright. "Don't be afraid of us, sir. Can we help
you in anything?"

"I am afraid not," replied the peddler, then leaned against a
tree-trunk, staring, as he tried to stifle his sobs.

"What has happened, sir?" asked Tom Reade, also stepping forward.

"I've been robbed!" replied the old man, in a broken voice.

"Robbed?" repeated Dick. "Do you mean that some villains have
stolen the goods from your wagon?"

"No, no!" replied the old man, with sudden, unlooked for vehemence.
"I've been robbed, I tell you---my money stolen!"

"Money?" asked Tom in surprise. "How much was taken from you?"

"Four hundred and eighteen dollars," replied the old man, with
a lack of reserve that testified to his confidence in these unknown
but respectful and sympathetic high school boys.

"All that money?" cried Dick. "How did you ever come to have
so much about you?"

"I owe some bills for goods, over at Hillsboro," replied Reuben
Hinman, "and this trip was to take me toward Hillsboro. But now-----"

He broke off, the strange, rending sobbing returning.

"Perhaps we can help you, bad as the case looks," Tom suggested.
"Try to tell us all about it, sir."

"Where did you have the money?" inquired Dick.

"In a wallet, in this inside coat pocket," replied the peddler,
holding his frayed coat open at the right side.

"You carried your wallet as conspicuously as that when traveling
over lonely country roads?" cried Prescott in amazement.

"I had a lot of letters and papers in front of the wallet, so
that no one would suspect that I had the wallet or the money,"
explained Reuben Hinman.

"I don't see any papers there now," Tom interposed.

"They're gone," replied Mr. Hinman. "Probably the thief thought
the papers v