“Hoo, hoo, hoo!” came from amid the branches of a tree in Mrs. McAlpine’s yard.
It sounded like the cry of an owl, but was followed by a human voice, “Good-night, friends. We have had a glorious Fourth, and now it is time to go home and to bed.”
“That means the show is done for to-night, I s’pose,” remarked Riggs, “and we may as well git fer home. But I just wisht I could find out who the feller is,” he mumbled to himself, as he moved down the street.
The crowd dispersed and the Raymonds retired to their own apartments.
“Oh, Max, how good it is that nobody’s found you out yet?” laughed Lulu gleefully.
“I’m glad they haven’t,” returned Max. “Papa, did I do anything objectionable?”
“I have no fault to find with you, my boy,” his father replied, with a slight smile and a very affectionate look at his son.
CHAPTER XX.
Captain Raymond lingered some time longer in Minersville.
It was near the middle of July, and his arrangements had been made for starting upon the homeward journey in a day or two, when early one morning he, Max, Mr. Short and the Austins set out upon their final hunt together.