"The robbers—" half sobbed the boys.
"Well, they ain't here," snarled the angry druggist, not catching the meaning of their words. "Now you hike for home and the next time you want to play a practical joke——"
"Oh, this isn't a joke!" cried Toady imploringly. "We've found the sure 'nough robbers, but——"
"We aren't big enough to capture them," finished Billiard.
"Aw, come off!" said the man, beginning to see from the boys' demeanor that something was really wrong. "You are having a bad dream. How do you happen to be wandering around town this time of night?"
"We dared each other to visit the haunted house to see if there was a really ghost, like Susie said."
"And you found one, did you?" the druggist laughed sarcastically.
"Oh, this ain't a ghost. It's burglars, truly! They talked and we heard what they said," cried Toady with convincing earnestness.
"And what did they say?" persisted the druggist, though in a different tone of voice.
Briefly they recounted their adventure in the vacant house, and as the man listened he took down the telephone, said a few words which the boys could not hear, and hung up the receiver again. Almost immediately there was a sound of footsteps without, and an armed citizen of Silver Bow appeared in the doorway, then another, and another, until a score or more had gathered just outside the building. There was a hasty consultation one with another, then the boys were bidden to repeat the story they had told the druggist, and after the men had heard the meagre details, the posse separated, vanishing one by one in the blackness. But instinctively the boys knew that they would attempt to surround the haunted house, and taking its occupants by surprise, would compel them to surrender.