“I’ve got something that we can take a peep with,” replied Bart, and he pulled out a small telescope. “I saw that advertised in a magazine and I sent for it,” he explained. “It came this noon when I was home to dinner, and I forgot to show it to you. You can see five miles off quite plainly through it.”
“That’s all to the good!” exclaimed Stumpy.
“What beats me,” put in Frank, “is how that man came to hire Sandy, and why they’re so afraid of being seen, or of having any one on that particular land?”
“Maybe we’ll find out pretty soon,” spoke Bart.
“I thought Lem said it was a man with a black moustache who was talking to Sandy that day,” said Frank. “This fellow has a light beard.”
“Might be another man, or this one might be disguised,” spoke Fenn.
“It’s getting just like a story in a book,” remarked Ned. “All it needs is the King of Paprica now to complete it.”
“Perhaps they’re all in this game,” suggested Bart.
“The plot thickens, as they say on the stage,” remarked Frank. “Come on, we’ll have to make better time than this. Wonder if Miss Mapes will get her wild flowers?”
“There are plenty on top of the hill,” observed Fenn. “It’s a hard climb, that’s all.”