films dry enough to use. Then the moving picture machine was set
up in a dark room, and all gathered to see what would be thrown
on the screen, greatly enlarged.

First came several brilliant flashes of light, and then, as the
entrance to the shop loomed into view, a dark figure seemed to
walk across the canvas. But it did not stop at the shop door.
Instead it went to the chicken coop, and, as the man reached that
door, he began working to get it open. Of course it had all taken
place in a few seconds, for, as soon as the flashlights went off,
the intruders had run away. But they had been there long enough
to have their pictures taken.

The man at the chicken coop turned around as the lights
flashed, and he was looking squarely at the camera. Of course
this made his face very plain to the audience, as Tom turned the
crank of the reproducing machine.

"Why, it's a colored man!" cried Ned in surprise.

"Yes, I guess it's only an ordinary chicken thief, after all,"
remarked Tom.

There was a gasp from Eradicate.

"Fo' de land sakes!" he cried. "De raskil! Ef dat ain't mah own
second cousin, what libs down by de ribber! An' to t'ink dat
Samuel 'Rastus Washington Jackson Johnson, mah own second cousin,
should try t' rob mah chicken coop! Oh, won't I gib it t' him!"