"Oh! come, let up on that sort of thing; open up and tell me what happened!" the excited boy demanded.
When they did give him the whole story he could hardly contain himself, between his natural indignation because of the meanness of the act, and his delight over the success of Colon's little trap.
"Caught that sneak Conrad Jimmerson, and strung him up like a trapped 'possum, did you?" he cried, clapping his hands in glee. "Gee! what tough luck that I wasn't around to see it. Always my bad fortune, seeing lots of game when I haven't got a gun; and never a thing when I'm heeled for business."
"You see Colon and myself got to talking it over," said Fred; "and we made up our minds that it was hardly fair to keep the thing from Brad. He's our head in the boat club, and ought to know all that's going on. Besides, when toughs begin to want to burn down houses just for spite, that's going pretty far. Something ought to be done to stop it."
Brad was of course duly impressed when he heard the story. He laughed heartily at the comical element connected with Colon's man-trap; but took the other part seriously.
"I'm going over and see my uncle about it," he declared in the end. "Being a lawyer, and a judge at that, he'll tell me what to do. I think he'll say he wouldn't mention a single name; for you know all lawyers are mighty cautious how they give cause for a suit for slander. But he'll tell me we ought to scatter the story all over town, and also let it be known that from now on there'll be somebody in that house every night, armed, and ready to fire on trespassers. See you later, fellows."
Fred found a chance a little later to get away from his other chums. He really did have an errand for his mother in one of the stores, but he remembered something besides that he had intended doing at the earliest opportunity, and it was this that swayed him most.
Now, it chanced that the place he had to visit to leave an order was the largest grocery store in Riverport. And one of the boys employed there was Toby Farrell. Fred knew that he was generally sent out each morning on a wheel, to visit a line of customers, and take down their orders; though most of them had telephones for that matter, and could have wired in their necessities.
Still, this grocer was enterprising, and instructed his boy clerk to tell each customer just what new and attractive goods they had received fresh that morning, possibly strawberries, vegetables and the like.
And in the course of his wheeling about Toby was accustomed to visit the establishment of Miss Alicia Muster each and every day. In fact, Toby was one of the two boys hired by trades-people whom Fred suspected of being the person guilty of taking the old maid's opals from the parlor.