tory. We--we thought _you_ were--We saw
you about the clubhouse and we got it into our heads that _you_ were--Was
it really Grandall that we saw on the balcony?"

"Thought _I_ was Grandall?" muttered the man, mystified. "Why should
you? Did you know he was in the woods? For I did not. But it was Lewis
Grandall and no other that went to his death before our very eyes! The
man with him--Murky was the name you used? Who was he?"

"Then you don't _know_ the _whole story_ of the robbery?" exclaimed
Billy Worth. "Murky was the man Grandall got to go through the motions
of robbing him of the twenty thousand dollars in the first place!"

It was with great interest, indeed, that Mr. Beckley heard the complete
account of Grandall's double-dealing scheme as Chip Slider and the Auto
Boys had gathered the information.

Meanwhile there had come with the wind fitful dashes of rain that soon
settled itself to a steady downpour. The forest fire had nearly burned
itself out on the lake's south shore. Thousands of acres of smoldering
ruins lay in its wake. Yet for a long time the refugees huddled upon
the raft, protecting themselves from the storm as best they could with
blankets and bedding. Not yet was it safe to venture ashore.

It was during this period that the golfing man made known his own identity
and told why he happened to be hiding in the old clubhouse, resulting
quite naturally, he freely admitted, in his being taken for the fugitive
treasurer of the Longknives.

His name was Henry Beckley, he explained, and he had been one of the most
active members of the Longknives Club. He had never been quite satisfied
that the club's treasurer was really robbed of the money intended for the
road builders, but had never found any genuine evidence to the contrary.

A long time had passed since the loss of the money. The investigation
of Grandall's crookedness, at home, was taken up by the Grand Jury. Mr.
Beckley had reason to suspect the man of a number of dishonest practices,
but feared for the safety of the bank, in which he was heavily interested,
if the public suddenly learned that Grandall was a thief.

To avoid being called as a witness in the matter he decided to go away
until the investigation was over. He would keep his going and his
destination a secret from all, his own family excepted, he planned,
and with no one suspecting where he might be, visit Opal Lake. Living in
concealment at the clubhouse he would have an opport