The Mystery at Camp Lenape

removed his sopping clothes after the battle. Moodily he donned a dry ou

w a thin book from his pocket, and began to read. He had barely cast his eye down one page whe

sked Wild Willie. "You

s going to happen around this camp!" h

ways acting mysterious, as if you thought somebody was going to commit a mur

d the title. "'How to Be a Detective in 10 Lessons, by the Fireside Correspond

window-like lenses of a pair of horn-rimmed glasses that rested on his long

, you better quit shadowing Chink Towner all over the place. He's getting m

emn glance. "Shh! I got infor

r? What do

s probably a Chine

ot even a Chinaman-we just call him Chink because he kind of looks that way. You better get these nutty ideas out of your head befor

se dusky young men lived, back of the ice-house, and had heard the whirr of machinery and the proud voice of Leggy, assistant cook, remarking: "Yas suh, dis here ma-sheen is sure goin' to make lots o' money for us all!" His hope of fame as a

is camp are going to be pretty glad they've got a live-wire det

's going t

ng glance in the direction of Tent Ten, where the twins had set about clearing

y advice, you'll keep away from those two! Everybody knows they scrap with each other now and then, but if you

ew around my good camera-case, and Jerr

is it? What's myst

cked down a lantern on him, on purpose, and I bet they'd

g to happen around camp, and then you'll be a hero and discover the mystery. Oh, yes!" Again came that scornful laugh. "Listen, there goes the bugle soundin

Willie was out of sight, he slipped the book into his pocket. He was convinced that the Utway twins were a pair of

d hide near them, watch their movements, and i

n the ground beside his three coffee-colored assistants, resting after their labors of preparing the midday meal of camp fare. The waiting lad could picture in his mind the scene under the wild-cherry tree in the baseball field beyond the lodge, where a dozen grown men, the councilors, sat, surrounded by the hundred lively boy campers who each season came to live under canvas in the woods and to enjoy the delights

seen into a clump of low bushes about fifty yards below Tent Ten. From this vantage-point he was a

n into the surrounding shrubbery, and to arrange everything inside in apple-pie order for a later inspection; a

scovered to the space under the flooring of the tent, where he could listen and perhaps overhear some incriminating words. Expertly h

hing. Everybody was in on the scrap, and Colby d

m now on he's going to be after us, especially when you pushed the tent-pole and brou

tuff! What'll

y, rank rebellion against the authority of a councilor of Lena

hetti Megaro caught the other day? I know where he keeps it down in my tent. Let's get it, and to-night, about twelve o'clock when everybody's asleep, we'

ting into a laugh. "But how are we going to stay

here. Tie one end to your foot before you go to sleep. When I wake up I'll give it a pull and wake you up, the

se. Come on, Jerry-we got time enough before swim to

one, gon

from the hill

ape and echoed across the lake. Fat Crampton doused the T

rd that afternoon, was attaching to his foot the cord which the twins had laid down after nightfall to connect Tent Ten with Jerry's bunk in Tent Eight down the line. This method of communication was necessary because the Chief in his wisdom made it a point to separate

d see that the brothers who had misused him would not get off lightly. His preparations were ma

, led by Fat Crampton's rumbling bass snore. Far up the mountain behind camp a dog barked somewhere. The travelling spot of a flashlight came up the

Jake had slipped on his tennis shoes and had noiselessly tiptoed down the steps. A light footfall from the path told him that Jerry was jo

s nightwear. It was the work of a few instants to slide his feet into a pair of moccasins and drop over the edge of the tent floor. Clutched under one arm he car