but left it in the woods nearby. The bridge
has been rebuilt, and is stronger than before. How's your hip,
Prescott?"

"As well as ever, thank you," replied Dick.

"I'm glad to know that, boy. Meant to drop in on you before.
I must hurry along now. Of course, if Tag shows up about your
camp, you won't tell him that you've seen me."

"Certainly not, sir," nodded Dick. "We'll also try to get word
to you, if we see him. Where is your home?"

"Five Corners is my address," replied the deputy. "So long, boys!
Glad to have seen you again."

The cat-footed deputy was soon lost to sight among the trees.

Dave was the first to speak, and that was some moments later.

"Dick, you're foolish to feel any liking for Tag Mosher. He's
bad all the way through. As it was he was locked up on a charge
of possible manslaughter, and now he has escaped, taking with
him firearms and ammunition enough to rid the county of peace
and police officers. He'll do it, too, if he's cornered. Now,
where's the good in that kind of a pest?"

"I don't know how to answer you," sighed Dick. "Perhaps I am
foolish, but I'm not yet prepared to admit it. Instead, I still
contend that I feel a sneaking liking for poor Tag."

"'Poor Tag,' indeed!" mimicked Tom Reade. "Poor wives and kids
of the deputy sheriffs whom Tag may shoot down in their tracks
before he's cornered at last! Dick, young Mosher is a budding
outlaw and a bad egg all around."

"No decent citizen should feel any sort of sympathy for him,"
affirmed Harry Hazelton.

"Let Dick alone," objected Greg Holmes. "Dick generally knows
what he's about, even in regard to his emotions and sympathies."

"What do you say, Danny?" asked Dave.

"May the sheriff deliver me from Tag Mosher!" replied Danny Grin.

"You're a prejudiced lot," smiled Dick, as he rose from his camp
stool. "Who'll watch camp this time while the rest of us go to
swimming pool?"

"I will," Darry volunteered.

Carrying clean underclothing, soap and towels from the tent, the
other five started through the woods to a new swimming pool that
had been discovered lately.

When they returned Dave went away alone for his bath. Tom Reade,
as the cook for the day, lifted the lid of the soup pot to examine
the contents.

"I wish one of you fellows would go out into the woods and bring
in some of that flowering savory herb for the soup," called Tom.

"I know the kind you mean," nodded Prescott. "I'll go and ge