going to bed. About ten o'clock came a hard downpour, lasting for half
an hour. Then the wind died away, and gradually the rain ceased.

"I guess the worst of it is over," announced Mrs. Wadsworth, presently.
"I think we may as well retire." And shortly after that all of the
inmates of both bungalows were in bed.

For a long while Dave could not sleep. As had been the case the night
previous, he tumbled and tossed on his couch, thinking of the trouble
that had come to him. But at last tired nature claimed its own, and he
sank into a profound slumber, from which he did not awaken until some
time after sunrise.

"Hello! I must have overslept," he declared, as he leaped up, to see
that his chums were almost dressed.

Dave was just finishing his toilet, and the other boys and some of the
girls had started to walk down to the dock to look at the lake, when a
cry came from the kitchen of the bungalow.

"Mrs. Wadsworth! Mr. Porter!" came a call from the hired girl. "Please
come here!"

"What is it, Mary?" asked Mrs. Wadsworth, as she appeared from her own
room.

"Sure, ma'am, a whole lot of things are missing!" declared the girl.

"Missing! What is missing?"

"Sure, ma'am, almost everything in the kitchen is missing, ma'am!" and
the girl pointed around in a helpless sort of fashion. "All the knives
and forks and spoons are gone! And so are some of the pots and pans and
kettles!"

"Is that possible?"

"Yes, ma'am. And that ain't all, ma'am. Sure, and most of the things in
the pantry and in the ice-box are gone, too!" announced Mary, running
from one place to another. "Sure, ma'am, we've been burglarized,
ma'am!"

CHAPTER XXVIII

DELLA FORD'S STATEMENT

"Burglars!"

"Did they take any of our valuables?"

"Oh, I wonder if they were in our rooms!"

"Mary, were all the things here when you went to bed?" questioned Mrs.
Wadsworth, of the servant girl, who was now in the wildest possible
state of excitement, wringing her hands and running from one room to
another.

"Yes, ma'am, when I went to bed everything was in its place. I'm sure of
it, ma'am."

The boys as well as the girls crowded into the kitchen, and then looked
into the pantry, in a corner of which was located the ice-box.

"How about this pantry window, Mary? Did you leave it open last night?"
asked Dave, pointing to the window in question.

"Sure, sir, I did not! I always lock up well before I go to bed,"
answered the girl.

"You did