front of the store, also drawing down the shades for the night.

Dick's mother followed him into the rear yard. The fragments
of the bottle under one of the store windows told the whole story
to one as experienced in jokes as Dick Prescott.

"But see how wet the ground is," Mrs. Prescott remarked after
Dick had explained the trick.

"That was because I didn't recognize the joker, and emptied the
contents of my water pitcher on him just as he broke the bottle,"
Dick smiled. "Poor old Tom. That was really a shame!"

"But why did you pour the water on him?" asked Mrs. Prescott.

"Because I felt sure that the prowler was up to some mischief,
and I wanted to mark him for identification, mother," Dick explained.
"If we had found a fellow on the street looking as though he
had just come out of the river, we'd have known our man, wouldn't
we? Poor Tom! I don't blame him for letting out that yell when
that drenching splash hit him."

"I hope he didn't get caught by the men who started after him,"
sighed Mrs. Prescott.

"Don't worry about Tom, mother," urged Dick. "No one about here
could catch him, unless he happened to be a member of the Gridley
High School Eleven!"

But was it true that Tom Reade had escaped without disaster?