Instantly the crowd outside heard a piercing scream from Trix Severn. She burst out of the tent, and, amid the laughter and jeers of her comrades, sought shelter in another room.
"Did you get the gold piece, Trix?" cried some.
"Divide with a fellow, will you?"
"Say! there are more tricks than are dreamed of in your philosophy, eh, Trix?" gibed Eva Larry.
And for that atrocious pun she was pushed forward to the tent, to be the next victim on the altar of the boys' perfectly harmless, though surprising joke.
Nobody was able to pick the gold piece out of the pan of water, thanks to the electric battery that Joe Eldred had so skillfully connected with it.
CHAPTER XVII
THE MYSTERIOUS LETTER
"You scared her," declared Agnes to Neale, on the way home from the party.
"Scared who?" demanded the boy, with apparent innocence.