heap lately---settle them once and for all."

"Which I suppose now you've done for a fact, Hugh?" remarked the other,
chuckling.

"I believe I have," the boy said, firmly.

"You've got me sized up, all right, I imagine, lad," continued Brother
Lu.

"I've come to the conclusion, sir, that you are a fraud of the first
water, if that's what you want to know," Hugh told him, boldly.

Strange to say, the ex-tramp, instead of taking umbrage at such
language, bent over almost double, and laughed so hard Hugh almost
feared he was about to have one of his violent fits of coughing;
but he did not.




CHAPTER XVII

THE WONDERFUL NEWS


"I reckon sure my cake is dough now, since you've tumbled to my game,
Hugh," the late tramp was saying, presently; "and there's nothing
left for me to do but take you into camp, and give you the whole
story from beginning to end."