"Don't tell us that," warned young Prescott. "Who were the other fellows in the crowd?"
"I tell you I came alone," Hen insisted, with rising color, as he shifted under Dick's steady gaze. "Fred and——"
"Fred—who?" cross-examined Dick.
"Nobody," Dutcher answered, his eyes on the floor.
Dick thought a moment before a great light dawned on him.
"So, Hen Dutcher, Fred Ripley and some of his crowd knew we were coming out here, and so they came along, too, and you with 'em, eh?"
"I tell you I wasn't with 'em," protested Dutcher.
"You walked all the way?"
"Most of the way."
"And how did Fred Ripley and his crowd come?"