"But what makes you suspicious of Hinter?" asked his father gravely. "Hasn't he always minded his own business and been a law-abidin', quiet livin man?"
"Yep," Billy admitted, slowly, "that's it. He's all right in lots of ways, but in other ways——"
He paused. "See here, Pa," he cried, "I happen to know one er two things about Hinter that I don't like. He's the boss of at least two bad men, an' I guess maybe there's more in the gang, too."
"And who are these two men? What have they done?"
"They're the two who've been workin' his drillin' rig; an' they're the men that robbed the Twin Oaks store."
"How do you know this?" Wilson asked sharply.
"I know it 'cause Maurice an' me saw 'em on the very night the store was robbed, out in Scroggie's woods. They had a lantern. We heard 'em speak about hidin' somethin' in the ha'nted house."
"And that's where Harry found the stolen stuff," mused Wilson. "What else, Billy?"
"It was them two who brought Hinter's drillin'-rig 'cross the lake in a schooner. I saw 'em the day they teamed it in. I knowed 'em both an' Pa, I overheard 'em talkin' 'bout hidin' the stolen stuff in the ha'nted house."
"Have you told anybody else about this besides me, Billy?"