"All right," said the mine owner, settling back comfortably in his
chair. "You insisted on my telling my story, and now that I have begun
it, you won't believe my first sentence."

"Yes, I do believe it, papa," Marion said repentantly, going close to
her father's chair and putting her arm around his neck. "I believe you
were held up by two masked highwaymen with guns in a lonely spot, as
you say. But how did you escape?"

"We were rescued by some boys!"

Although at the end of a sentence, Mr. Stanlock stopped so quickly
that only a dull person could fail to notice it. His sudden stop, of
course, was occasioned by the return to his mind of his promise to
keep the secret of the Boy Scouts.

"Boys," said Mrs. Stanlock, wonderingly. "I didn't know that we had
any heroes of that type in Hollyhill."

"They were some young fellows out hunting," explained the narrator.
"They witnessed the hold-up and leveled their guns at the rascals and
drove them away."

"Who are those boys?" Marion demanded, and one might almost have
imagined from her manner that she had half a kingdom to bestow on the
rescuers of her father.

"I'm afraid I can't give you their names," Mr. Stanlock replied
slowly.