"Going to uncover some more freight thieves?" asked Jack Ness, as he took charge of the team and started for the barn.
"I think dem boys had bettah cotch some of dem chicken thieves," put in Aleck Pop. "Yo' don't seem to git holt ob dem nohow."
"Oh, never you mind about the chicken thieves," grumbled Jack Ness.
"Has somebody been stealing chickens again?" asked Dick, remembering that they had suffered several times from such depradations.
"Yes, da has took two chickens las' Wednesday, foah on Saturday, an' two on Monday. Jack he laid fo' 'em wid a shotgun, but he didn't cotch nobody."
"I'll catch them yet, see if I don't," said the hired man.
"Perhaps a fox is doing it," suggested Sam. "If so, we ought to go on a fox hunt. That would suit me first rate."
"No fox in this," answered Jack Ness. "I see the footprints of two men,—tramps, I reckon. If I catch sight of 'em I'll fill 'em full of shot and then have 'em locked up."