the boys were squatted on the ground
about the fire, eating supper.

Raikes responded to their greeting, and sat down beside them. His face
told nothing, but there was a subdued twinkle of satisfaction in his
eyes.

"Fill my plate, Sparwick," he said, "and give me a cup of coffee. I'm
hungry as a bear."

"How far have you come?" asked Bogle.

"From Wytopitlock," was the reply. "It's a little station on the
Canadian Pacific, a few miles east of Kingman."

Brick was unable to hold in any longer.

"Is it all right?" he exclaimed, eagerly. "Have you got the money? Are
you going to let us go now?"

Raikes did not reply. Instead, a bewildered look flashed across his
face. He had just discovered Jerry's absence.

"Where is the other lad?" he asked. "I hope you haven't let him get
away."

Bogle briefly told the sad story. Raikes was visibly affected.

"I'm sorry it happened," he said. "I didn't want any bloodshed to be
mixed up in this affair. Still, it was an accident, and the lad was to
blame himself. We'll have to explain to Glendale that he escaped, and
could not be found. You see, I told him that we had three prisoners to
turn over instead of one."

"Then you have really made a success of your errand, Silas?" asked
Bogle.

Raikes smiled as he took a deep draught of coffee, and attacked the food
on his plate.

"I couldn't have done better," he replied. "Everything is fixed, and
there is no danger of a slip. It took two or three days' work to bring
Glendale to terms. He was pugnacious at first, and used some pretty
rough language--talked about the police, and all that sort of thing. I
told him to go ahead, and he saw that I couldn't be bluffed or scared
off. After I convinced him that the lad's life depended on the payment
of the money he came down gracefully."

"Did he cable to France?" asked Bogle.

"No; it wasn't necessary. He had money at his disposal, and he didn't
want to alarm the lad's parents. The long and short of it is that Mr.
Frederick Glendale is now quartered at a tavern in Wytopitlock, and he
has with him the sum of fifteen thousand dollars in banknotes."

Sparwlck and Bogle fairly gasped for breath. Their eyes and flushed
faces showed how excited they were.

"Five thousand apiece!" muttered Sparwick. "It's a fortune."

"What arrangements have you made for the transfer?" asked Bogle.

"We're to meet on Friday evening, three miles this side of Wytopitlock,"
replied Raikes. "Do you re