"I did. It came from the back of the house."

"Somebody must be trying to get into the kitchen window!"

Dick broke into a run, with Tom at his heels. Entering the garden by a rear gate, they soon reached the vicinity of the kitchen. A window stood wide open, and through this they beheld somebody inside the apartment with a blazing match in his hand trying to light a candle.

"Hi, there, who are you?" cried Tom, before Dick could stop him.

At the sound of the call the man in the kitchen jumped as though stung by a bee. Then he wheeled around, with the lighted candle in his hand, and both boys saw that it was Josiah Crabtree.

CHAPTER V

A STRUGGLE IN THE DARK

"Crabtree, you rascal!" ejaculated Dick.

"Who—who is that?" spluttered the former teacher of Putnam Hall, in dismay.

"It is I—Dick Rover. What are you doing here?"