“Those papers ain’t no good.”
“That remains to be seen. What I want to know is, how did you manage to steal them?”
“Steal ’em?” Hiram Skeetles’ lips quivered. “Didn’t steal ’em. Dan Marcy got——”
“Don’t you lay it off on me,” howled the bully. “Skeetles told me they belonged to him, and that’s why I got ’em. If I had known——” He stopped short.
“My opinion of it is, you are both a precious pair of rascals,” came from Joel Runnell. “And that being so, I want you to leave these boys alone.”
A wordy war followed, but old Runnell and the young hunters were obdurate, and at last Hiram Skeetles and Dan Marcy withdrew, the former trembling for what the future might have in store and the bully like a dog that has been thoroughly whipped.
“I move we start for home at once,” said Joe, and Harry seconded the motion. The others were willing, and they started less than an hour after, dragging their diminished stores and the balance of the moose after them.
The coming into Lakeport with such big game attracted considerable attention, and they were loudly congratulated on the success of their hunting tour; but the majority of the people did not know the full extent of their success until some time later, when the truth concerning the missing papers was announced.
“They are the real papers,” said Mrs. Westmore. “It is wonderful how you managed to locate them.”
“We will start proceedings against Hiram Skeetles without delay,” said Mr. Westmore, and this was done. The real estate dealer put up a feeble fight, but the evidence was all against him, and in the end the property came into the Westmore possession. Then it was also decided that Skeetles had no claim upon Pine Island. The real estate dealer grew so unpopular in that neighborhood that soon he moved to another section of the country and that was almost the last seen or heard of him.