conversation between the men below, Jem and Dan. There was a thundering
knock at the door.

"It's the gov at last!" shouted Jem, jumping to his feet.

"No one else!" echoed Dan.

Jem opened the door and a man staggered in. His slouch hat, dripping wet,
was pulled down over his face. He was completely enveloped in a great rain
blanket. The hole in its center fitted about his neck and covered him
nearly to the feet, even to his arms. These held something under the cloak,
for its bulging surface showed that he was carrying something.

"Help me out of this," growled the newcomer. "Good I borrowed this blanket
in a convenient barn, or everything would have been soaked."

"Borrowed!" guffawed Jem.

"Haw! haw!" roared Dan, as if it was a great joke. "There you are, mate."

If Frank had been surprised and startled at the secret concerning Samuel
Mace's missing diamond bracelet, he was dumfounded at the face of the
newcomer.

"Why," he breathed in wonderment, "it's the man I drove off from bothering
that traveling scissors grinding boy at Tipton, Ned Foreman. Yes, this is
the man the boy called Tim Brady, and--whew!"

Frank's thoughts seemed to come as swift as lightning. He had marveled at
the strange series of events that had given him a clue as to the persons