laid on me, good and
hard. Wherever I struck, it's raised a whopping big welt, I calculate."

"Well, if you could tell from the way they hollered every time it struck,
that goes without saying," laughed Colon. "And I'll have lots of fun out
of this, every time I think of it. Did you hear what that leader said
when he knew they'd have to own up beat? 'Scoot, fellows! it's all off!'
I guess it was, for if they'd held out much longer, we'd have floored the
whole bunch."

"I was wondering what his voice sounded like," said Fred.

"Oh! I'd take my affidavit that he had a hickory nut in his cheek right
then, so as to disguise his voice, if he did have to speak any," Colon
went on to say, and in this way proving that he was ready to give their
unknown assailants credit for utilizing every possible device that would
insure the successful carrying out of their miserable scheme.

"I knew a fellow who did that same thing once upon a time," Fred hinted.

"Yes, and it was somebody we happen to know right well, too," agreed
Colon; "in other words, Mister Buck Lemington, the clever and
unscrupulous son of Sparks Lemington, one of Riverport's leading
citizens, and a chap who lies awake nights hatching up plans for getting
the better of a friend of mine."

"Hold on, Colon, go a little slow about accusing anybody before we've got
the least bit of evidence. This might be a different crowd. Perhaps
it'll turn out they're from Paulding, where I've heard there's a certain
sporting element that's taken to betting on baseball games and athletics
and such things, now that horse racing and making pools have been knocked
out by law."

"Shucks! now, I hadn't thought of that before," assented the tall boy, in
a grudging fashion, as though he disliked giving up any cherished idea
that may have seized upon his mind with conviction. "And if they've gone
and put up money on Paulding breasting the tape first, why, of course
they might plot to do something to lame the best runners in Riverport and
Mechanicsburg. But Fred, in that case they'd be apt to send men here to
knock you. These were boys!"

"Yes, that's so, Colon, and it looks like a weak link in the chain,
doesn't it? But since the game didn't pan out the way they thought it
would, perhaps these fellows will fight shy of trying anything like it
again. We'll take a look around to-morrow, and see if we can notice any
signs of their being on the hurt list among Buck's crowd."