"After him!" cried Dick.
"No! Don't go!" exclaimed Bud. "You don't know what he was doing, what he may be up to nor where he's gone. It isn't safe!"
This last was so evident that Nort and Dick at once agreed to the proposition and halted. But Dick added:
"We don't know, for sure what he was doing, but I can pretty near guess!"
"What?" asked Bud.
"He was brewing stuff to poison our cattle. He's the fellow that's been doing it. He's the cause of all the trouble at Dot and Dash. We ought to have him arrested, and we've got good proof against him!"
"What proof?" Bud asked.
"The bottles of stuff he sold us. Lucky we didn't take any of it! It's poison, sure! Come on, let's get back and then send word to the sheriff to come and arrest this old man."
It seemed to be good advice and the best thing to do under the circumstances, whether or not Dick's theory would be borne out by facts.
"We'll go back and have that Elixer analyzed," said Bud as he swung around with his cousins and began the retreat. "I meant to have it done before but there's so doggoned much to do here it slipped my mind. But I'll have it looked after now."