e down almost to a whisper.

"Yes, two dollars. Thank you. There are three men in the cornfield
watching us," he added in a tone barely loud enough for the Overlanders
to hear. "Don't look. If I don't run out of change I'll have you all
fixed up in three shakes of a possum's tail," said Mr. Long, again
boisterously.

CHAPTER XIV

ELFREDA DISTINGUISHES HERSELF

"The smoke is too thick. I can't see through the glasses. I want my
money back," complained Emma.

"No extra charge for the additional soot. Who is next? Ah! Wash needs a
pair of specs to tone down the whites of his eyes," cried Jeremiah.

"Never mind him. He is smoky enough as it is," returned Hippy. "If you
are dead set on doing more business you might go out and put goggles on
the mules. Perhaps then they might not see so much to bray at."

This badinage was kept up for some little time, so that the prowlers in
the cornfield might not suspect that their presence were known to the
campers.

All of the party were wondering how the Mystery Man knew that they were
being watched, for none of the Overlanders had heard the slightest sound
in the direction of the cornfield, and their ears, after all their
campaigning, were always on the alert. Jeremiah was a man of many
mysteries.

Grace invited him to share their hospitality for the night, which he
acknowledged by rising and favoring them with another profound bow.

"I will sleep in the open, if I may be permitted to do so--as before,"
he murmured. In the same low tone, he added: "I don't just like the
location of your camp."

"Why not, sir?" asked Miss Briggs.

"Too many ears in the cornfield, and besides--"

Emma Dean uttered a dismal groan. Her companions burst out laughing,
Jeremiah regarding them with eyes that twinkled and laughed, though the
face remained almost expressionless.

"Is it not true?" he asked.

"Yes. Too true! Alas, too true," murmured Hippy in an awed tone.

Grace got up laughing and went to her tent for blankets for her guest.

"By the fire as before?" she asked upon her return.

Jeremiah shook his head.

"I will place them, Mrs. Gray. Thank you."

The girls then bade their guest good-night, each one shaking hands with
him, and, as Grace extended her hand, he placed in it a roll of money.

"The funds I held you folks up for," explained Mr. Long. "You can
return it to them to-morrow with an explanation. Do not let the
lieutenant take too many chances, is my sugge