you came. Dode wants to go with us, but we tell him to remain with
the gang until they can be rounded up by the officers."

Dode started to make some remark, but Jimmie stopped him.

"They haven't got any consideration coming from you, have they?" he
asked. "They stole you, didn't they? They brought you here from
Washington to make a thief of you, didn't they?"

"And they beat you up for making the signals, too," Teddy put in.
"And they're coming out now!" he added. "So we'll all git--but Dode!"




CHAPTER VIII

UNCLE IKE PRESENTS HIMSELF


Mrs. Brady and Buck walking together, Ned and Frank discussed the
situation thoroughly as they descended the mountainside.

"This may be a frame-up," Ned observed, "but it is up to us to see it
through. The boy who has just been brought in may be the prince, or
he may be the grandson, and we are here to get the answer."

"Or there may be no boy at the cabin at all!" Frank suggested. "The
conspirators know that we are in the mountains for the purpose of
looking up the prince. What better plan than the one now working