“’Cause,” explained his playmate, “if burglars robbed Miss Ransom’s store maybe they robbed our house, and maybe my mother would want me to help catch ’em—or, anyhow, go after the constable for her. And maybe they robbed your house, too, Teddy. You’d better go home.”
Ted looked down at his clothes, which were only partly dry and which still had much mud on them.
“No, I don’t b’lieve I’ll go home yet,” he said. “I’ll stay out in the sun till I get dryer. Anyhow, our house wasn’t robbed. I was there all night, and no burglars came in. We have a tramp at our house,” he added. “You know—the one I told you about.”
Tom thought for a moment.
“Say!” he cried, “maybe he’s the man that took the things from Miss Ransom’s store. Tramps rob places, don’t they?”
“Maybe,” agreed Ted. “But I don’t believe this tramp did. He’s a nice looking man. Anyhow, Miss Ransom saw him on our lawn, and he wasn’t in her store. I guess it was somebody else.”
“I guess it was, too,” agreed Tom. “Anyhow, I’m going home to see if we had any robbers. If we had, I’ll tell you about it, and then we can go off in the woods and hunt for ’em!”
Both boys looked across the meadow to the house of Constable Juke. They could see, even from where they stood, Mrs. Ransom going into the yard, and after they had watched a little longer, they saw a man come out and speak to the woman who kept the candy and notion store.
“That’s Constable Juke now,” said Tom.
“And she’s telling him all about the robbers,” added Ted.