"Where did you get this, Jud?" asked the scout master.
"Why, Old Dan Tucker brought it to me," replied the leader of the Gray
Fox Patrol, promptly.
"And where did you find it, Dan?" continued Paul, turning on the scout in question, who seemed only too willing to tell all he knew—which, it turned out, was precious little at best.
"Why, you see, I had a dispute with Nuthin about the number of hams fetched on the trip. He vowed there was two, and I said three, countin' the one we'd cut into last night. So to prove it, I just happened to step into the tent where we've got some of the grub piled up. It was three, all right, just as I said. But I found this paper pinned to one of the whole hams, which, you know, are sewed up in covers right from the packers. I couldn't make out what it meant. First I thought Nuthin was playin' a joke on me; but he denied it. So I took the paper to Jud, seein' that you were away, Paul."
"It was pinned to one of the hams, was it?" asked the scout master, frowning.
"Sure, and the pin's still stickin' in it," answered Dan, positively.
Paul looked around.
"I want to settle one thing right at the start, before we bother any more about this matter," he remarked. "Did any one of you write this, or have you ever seen it before Dan brought it to Jud?"
"He showed it to me," exclaimed Nuthin; "but it was the first time I ever glimpsed that paper or writin', Paul, I give you my word."
"If anybody else has seen it before, I want him to hold up his hand," continued the scout master, knowing how prone boys are to play pranks.