Page:Boys of Columbia High on the River.djvu/48

38 think I'm getting daffy!" he cried out, triumphantly; as if he considered the question of his veracity of more account than a dozen leather bags, no matter if they contained untold treasure.

"Do you mean the bag has been taken out of the buggy; that some one came behind and swiped it?" asked Frank, curiously.

"Just what happened as sure as you live. This is certainly most exasperating, to be so near a haul and get left. One of the rascals must have run after you, and still thinking you were officers, managed to get a grip on the bag. I'm disappointed in you boys. I began to hope you'd taken a fall out of those robbers. But go on in town, and leave the rig for me," the chief went on.

"But what shall I do with this, sir?" asked Frank, holding up a package wrapped in newspaper.

"I don't care; any old thing. But what is it, Frank?" asked the chief, turning as he was about to hurry away.

"Why, the stuff that was in the leather bag!" replied the boy, quietly.

Chief Hogg gasped for breath. He could hardly believe his ears. The idea of a mere boy having outwitted so clever a pair of rascals as those whom he was hunting just then staggered his belief.

"Say, Frank Allen, do you mean to say that you were that smart as to empty out the bag before