"Yas'r, Ah is suttinly shuah dat Ah made no communication whatsoeber regardin' de events of de perceedin' night, sah. Ah was suttin dat young Mistah Smith would keep his wo'd abo 't de extra remuneration, sah, an' Ah didn't wanter prejudice de situation, sah."
"Oh, I see," laughed Dick. "Then Dr. Wise acted on his own initiative from information received elsewhere, is that it?"
Bucephalus scratched his woolly head, and answered:
"Ah donno abo't de inflammation an' de oder misery, sah. Am it so bad as all dat, sah?"
"I mean that he did it on his own account, and not because of anything that you may have told him."
"All reckon so, sah," said Bucephalus, greatly relieved. "Ah done told him nothin', an' Ah don' guess nobody else told him."
Percival went away laughing, but tossed the coin he held in his hand to Bucephalus, who caught it deftly and grinned.
"The doctor either found it out himself or some one has told him," he said to himself, "but it is clear that he knows about it. He would not set a guard on the camp unless he had a good reason, for strangers do not visit us, and the Riverton police probably have orders to keep their eyes on the place."
Seeing Jack shortly afterward, Dick told his friend what he had learned and added:
"The Riverton police would simply keep a watch against strangers, but the doctor evidently thinks that some of our own Hilltoppers need watching, and he has, therefore, taken this means of doing it.