latter would find the means to cheat him out of the princely rewardoffered by the Oakdale village board. He thought of going at once to theSquibbs' house and placing the desperate criminals under arrest; butas fear throttled the idea in its infancy he cast about for some otherplan.
Even as he stood there thinking the great detective and his companionswere entering the automobile to drive away. In a moment they would begone. Were they not, after all, the very men, the only men, in fact, toassist him in his dilemma? At least he could test them out. If necessaryhe would divide the reward with them! Running toward the road Willieshouted to the departing sleuth. The car, moving slowly forward in low,came again to rest. Willie leaped to the running board.
"If I tell you where the murderer is," he whispered hoarsely, "do I gitthe $50.00?"
Detective Burton was too old a hand to ignore even the most seeminglyimpossible of aids. He laid a kindly hand on Willie's shoulder. "You betyou do," he replied heartily, "and what's more I'll add another fifty toit. What do you know?"
"I seen the murderer this mornin'," Willie was gasping with excitementand elation. Already the one hundred dollars was as good as his. Onehundred dollars! Willie "Goshed!" mentally even as he told his tale. "Hecome to our house an' bought some vittles an' stuff. Paw didn't know whohe wuz; but when Paw went inside he told me he was The Oskaloosie Kid'n' thet he robbed a house last night and killed a man, 'n' he had awhole pocket full o' money, 'n' he said he'd kill me ef I told."
Detective Burton could scarce restrain a smile as he listened to thiswildly improbable tale, yet his professional instinct was too keen topermit him to cast aside as worthless the faintest evidence until he hadproven it to be worthless. He stepped from the car again and motioningto Willie to follow him returned to the Case yard where Jeb was alreadycoming toward the gate, having noted the interest which his sonwas arousing among the occupants of the car. Willie pulled at thedetective's sleeve. "Don't tell Paw about the reward," he begged; "he'llkeep it all hisself."
Burton reassured the boy with a smile and a nod, and then as he nearedJeb he asked him if a young man had been at his place that morningasking for food.
"Sure," replied Jeb; "but he didn't 'mount to nothin'. One o' these heresummer camper pests. He paid fer all he got. Had a roll o' bills 's bigas ye fist. Little feller he were, not much older 'n' Willie."
"Did you know that he told your son that he was The Oskaloosa Kid andthat he had robbed a house and killed a man last night?"
"Huh?" exclaimed Jeb. Then he turned and cast one awful look atWillie--a look large with menace.
"Honest, Paw," pleaded the boy. "I was a-scairt to tell you, 'cause hesaid he'd kill me ef I told."
Jeb scratched his head. "Yew know what you'll get ef you're lyin' tome," he threatened.
"I believe he's telling the truth," said detective Burton. "Where is theman now?" he asked Willie.
"Down to the Squibbs' place," and Willie jerked a dirty thumb toward theeast.
"Not now," said Burton; "we just came from there; but there has beensomeone there this morning, for there is still a fire in the kitchenrange. Does anyone live there?"
"I should say not," said Willie emphatically; "the place is haunted."
"Thet's right," interjected Jeb. "Thet's what they do say, an' this hereOskaloosie Kid said they heered things las' night an' seed a dead man onthe floor, didn't he M'randy?" M'randy nodded her head.
"But I don't take no stock in what Willie's ben tellin' ye," shecontinued, "'n' ef his paw don't lick him I will. I told him tell I'mgood an' tired o' talkin' thet one liar 'round a place wuz all I couldstand," and she cast a meaning glance at her husband.
"Honest, Maw, I ain't a-lyin'," insisted Willie. "Wot do you supposehe give me this fer, if it wasn't to keep me from talkin'," and the boydrew a crumpled one dollar bill from his pocket. It was worth the dollarto escape a thrashing.
"He give you thet?" asked his mother. Willie nodded assent.
"'N' thet ain't all he had neither," he said. "Beside all them bills heshowed me a whole pocket full o' jewlry, 'n' he had a string o' thingsthet I don't know jest what you call 'em; but they looked like theywas made outen the inside o' clam shells only they was all round likemarbles."
Detective Burton raised his eyebrows. "Miss Prim's pearl necklace," hecommented to the man at his side. The other nodded. "Don't punish yourson, Mrs. Case," he said to the woman. "I believe he has discovered agreat deal that will help us in locating the man we want. Of course I aminterested principally in finding Miss Prim--her father has engaged mefor that purpose; but I think the arrest of the perpetrators of any oflast night's crimes will put us well along on the trail of the missingyoung lady, as it is almost a foregone conclusion that there is aconnection between her disappearance and some of the occurrences whichhave so excited Oakdale. I do not mean that she was a party to anycriminal act; but it is more than possible that she was abducted by thesame men who later committed the other crimes."
The Cases hung open-mouthed upon his words, while his companionswondered at the loquaciousness of this ordinarily close-mouthed man,who, as a matter of fact, was but attempting to win the confidence ofthe boy on the chance that even now he had not told all that he knew;but Willie had told all.
Finding, after a few minutes further conversation, that he could gleanno additional information the detective returned to his car and drovewest toward Millsville on the assumption that the fugitives would seekescape by the railway running through that village. Only thus could heaccount for their turning off the main pike. The latter was now wellguarded all the way to Payson; while the Millsville road was still open.
No sooner had he departed than Willie Case disappeared, nor did heanswer at noon to the repeated ringing of the big, farm dinner bell.
Half way between the Case farm and Millsville detective Burton saw, farahead along the road, two figures scale a fence and disappear behindthe fringing blackberry bushes which grew in tangled profusion on eitherside. When they came abreast of the spot he ordered the driver to stop;but though he scanned the open field carefully he saw no sign of livingthing.
"There are two men hiding behind those bushes," he said to hiscompanions in a low whisper. "One of you walk ahead about fifty yardsand the other go back the same distance and then climb the fence. WhenI see you getting over I'll climb it here. They can't get away from us."To the driver he said: "You have a gun. If they make a break go after'em. You can shoot if they don't stop when you tell 'em to."
The two men walked in opposite directions along the road, and whenBurton saw them turn in and start to climb the fence he vaulted over thepanel directly opposite the car. He had scarcely alighted upon the otherside when his eyes fell upon the disreputable figures of two trampsstretched out upon their backs and snoring audibly. Burton grinned.
"You two sure can go to sleep in a hurry," he said. One of the menopened his eyes and sat up. When he saw who it was that stood over himhe grinned sheepishly.
"Can't a guy lie down fer a minute in de bushes widout bein' pinched?"he asked. The other man now sat up and viewed the newcomer, while fromeither side Burton's companions closed in on the three.
"Wot's de noise?" inquired the second tramp, looking from one to anotherof the intruders. "We ain't done nothin'."
"Of course not, Charlie," Burton assured him gaily. "Who would eversuspect that you or The General would do anything; but somebody didsomething in Oakdale last night and I want to take you back there andhave a nice, long talk with you. Put your hands up!"
"We--."
"Put 'em up!" snapped Burton, and when the four grimy fists had beenelevated he signalled to his companions to search the two men.
Nothing more formidable than knives, dope, and a needle were found uponthem.
"Say," drawled Dopey Charlie. "We knows wot we knows; but hones' to gawdwe didn't have nothin' to do wid it. We knows the guy that pulled itoff--we spent las' night wid him an' his pal an' a skoit. He creasedme, here," and Charlie unbuttoned his clothing and expos
ed to view thebloody scratch of The Oskaloosa Kid's bullet. "On de level, Burton, wewern't in on it. Dis guy was at dat Squibbs' place wen we pulls in dereouten de rain. He has a pocket full o' kale an' sparklers an' tings, andhe goes fer to shoot me up