"Do you remember I told you that I placed that Fred Rover's suitcase down under a stack in the cornfield?"
"Yes."
"Well, I heard Walt Baxter telling Ned Lowe that he had seen a tramp down in the cornfield running away from one of the stacks with a suitcase in his hand; so I went down to the cornfield to find out if the suitcase was still where I had hidden it. It was gone."
"Whew!" Slugger Brown gave a prolonged whistle. "That certainly does look bad. Did Baxter say where the tramp went?"
"He told Lowe that he had not come towards the Hall, but had gone off in the opposite direction."
"Then that looks as if the suitcase was gone for good."
"So it does. And I don't know what I'm going to do about it," answered Nappy Martell, gloomily. "Of course, I didn't think the suitcase would be stolen."
"And the worst part of it is, the Rovers suspect you of having taken it," was the comment of Slugger.
"Yes. But they can't prove it," cried Nappy, quickly. "That is, they won't be able to do it unless you or Codfish give me away."
"You know me well enough to know I won't say a word, Nappy. And as for Codfish, just give him to understand if he opens his trap you'll fix him for it."