vale had certainly earned the medals they
proudly wore for saving life at the risk of their own on that special
occasion.

"Why, yes," the shorter guard now remarked, "and when I went down
home last week in Chester they were talking about how some scouts
had helped fight the forest fires over Oakvale way. Mebbe now you
chaps had a hand in that game, too?"

For answer Billy thrust out his left hand before the man's eyes.

"See that red scar on the back of my hand?" he asked. "Well, I got
that up there fighting the fire on the mountain that was trying to
wipe out the home of Mrs. Heffner, a widow."

"Good for you, Billy!" exclaimed the taller guard, for by now they had
come to know the scouts by their several names, feeling quite at home
in the temporary camp. "I'd like to wager that there must have been
some tall doings when _you_ got busy with the water pails. I've been
on the same line myself, and know what it means to fight a forest
fire with the wind a-blowin' it right along, spite of all you can do
to stop it."

"About this crazy man you were speaking about," observed Alec, as
though a sudden suspicion might have struck him, "it doesn't happen
that his name could be Randall, Judge Anson Randall, does it?"

"Oh! what if it should turn out that way?" gasped Billy, as he
comprehended the nature of the idea that must have flashed through
the other's mind.

The tall guard, however, shook his head in the negative.

"That isn't his name at all," he told them. "This man did something
terrible, and his money hired the best lawyers in the country to defend
him. In the end he was called insane, and sent to the asylum. Then
his folks tried every way they knew how to get him free. At last a
scheme was hatched up so he could make a break for liberty. Well,
their plans have succeeded. He's escaped. They're searching for
him all over the country up here. But I reckon, because their plans
have been laid so carefully, all our efforts to catch the conspirators
will be in vain."

"Money talks!" said Alec, laconically.

"Well, it talks pretty loud in a case like this," the man added.

When the meal was ready they all sat around to enjoy it. Billy in
particular seemed very much taken with the idea that they had company.

"We've known some queer happenings in our camping out experiences,
fellows," he told the others, as they started in to dispose of the
immense amount of food the generous fat scout had cooked.