"By gum! I believe the young terrors would shoot, sir! Let's go and hunt for the runaway bull!" exclaimed his companion.

"But that is my property they are harboring here, confound it!" cried the farmer.

"Then go about reclaiming it in a legal way. Bring the sheriff, Mr.

Dodd, here, and we'll allow you to take the boy away, if he is in our camp. But, Mr. Dodson, understand that he shall see the cruel welts on the back of Jed, and hear his story from his own lips. Take him now you shall not. On that my chums and myself are fully agreed. Isn't it so, boys?" went on Frank.

"That's what I say," declared Bluff positively.

"I back Frank up in all he says," came from Jerry.

Click!

"There! I've got the dandiest picture ever!" cried Will.

The farmer and his foreman had started, and uttered exclamations of alarm, as a sudden dazzling white light flashed over the scene. It was the ardent photographer, taking his flashlight of the scene for future reference.

Somehow, Mr. Dobson seemed cowed to an extent his man had never known before. Perhaps it was the sight of the several guns, backed by the looks of the four young campers; or else he had been alarmed by Frank's allusion to the welts upon the bound boy's back.

"This is an outrage that you will suffer for. The law will back me up in claiming my own. I'm not fool enough to try to take the boy under your guns; but wait, and see if you can balk Cal Dobson," he went on, morosely.

"If you're going to the law about it, let me recommend my dad, John Masters," said Bluff smoothly.

At which the farmer started, and looked more uneasy than ever. He had not forgotten the little warfare that existed between himself and John Masters. Doubtless the lawyer would be only too glad of an opportunity to even up the score. More than ever must he try to get Jed back to the farm before those telltale welts on his back were seen of men.

"I'm not going to stay here to be insulted any longer. Remember, I give ye plain warning that for this high-handed outrage every one of ye will pay dear. As for you, Jed----"

He did not finish the sentence, but the ferocious look which he bent upon the bound boy was enough to freeze the blood in his veins.

Then Mr. Dobson and his man wheeled and strode away. The farmer did not look back, even when the obliging Will called out:

"Oh, Mr. Dobson! Please don't forget that you appear in that picture, and if you would like to possess one you can have it at the cost of production."

When the unwelcome intruders had really pa.s.sed out of sight Jed crept over to Frank and caught his hand.

"Oh, thank you! Thank you for being so kind. He hates me more than ever, and if he ever gets me back to his farm he will nearly kill me, I believe," he said in thrilling tones of grat.i.tude.

"Then depend on it he never will, if we can prevent it. I don't quite understand this thing. It seems so unnatural for even a strong-tempered man like Mr. Dobson to hate a poor little chap like you so much. He acts as if he had a personal spite against you, Jed. Do you know of any reason why this should be so?"

Frank asked this because he shrewdly fancied that there must be something back of the whole thing besides mere cruelty on the farmer's part.

"Yes, I believe I do," admitted the other, slowly.

"Would you mind telling us, Jed?" continued Frank.

"No, because you are my good friends, all of you. I would trust you with anything in the world."

As the lad spoke his hand sought the bosom of his ragged shirt. When he drew it out they could see that he was holding something which he handled with the utmost reverence.

Naturally, all of the boys crowded around, anxious to see what it was he had wrapped up in that small piece of cloth in the shape of a tiny bag, and which had been fastened with a small safety-pin inside his cotton shirt.

So Jed opened it, and took out a small locket.

"I have thought from the start that he wanted to get hold of this, though why he should I could never guess. Many times he searched my clothes. Why, the first night I was in his house he crept into my attic room after he thought I was asleep, and went through all my pockets; but I had it under my pillow. That made me afraid, and I hid it away."

"Please go on. We are all mightily interested," said Frank.

"Twice he whipped me because he said I was withholding something that belonged to him, and once he even demanded what I had done with this locket; but if he killed me I would not have told him, because you see it contains the picture of my own dear dead mother!"

He opened the locket, and they saw the face of a sweet woman, who had evidently known what it was to suffer before she went to another world.

"Where did you get this?" asked Frank, after he had pa.s.sed it around so that all his chums could see.

"She put it in my hands as she was dying. She said it might be of value to me some day, and never to let it pa.s.s out of my possession. It _is_ of great value to me, but only because it holds her precious face,"

replied the boy, sighing, as the tears ran down his cheeks.

Frank examined the locket again, and shook his head.

"She did not tell you how it would be valuable?" he asked.

The lad managed to restrain his feelings so that he could reply.

"I have often thought she intended to do so, but had been overcome before she could speak more, and I never knew."

"But evidently, in some way, it has to do with your future, and Cal Dobson knows, or suspects, the secret, too. How did you happen to be bound out to him in the first place, Jed?" Frank went on, anxious to know more of this strange thing.

"Why, you see, he is my mother's first cousin, and he applied to have me bound out to him, as the next of kin. No one else wanted me, and so they handed me over to him to bring to Centerville," replied the boy readily.

"That's a point worth remembering. So he's a relative, eh? I guess n.o.body around here knew that before. Evidently Mr. Dobson has some scheme in view, and the possession of this same locket is concerned in it. He could get plenty of boys, but there is something else beyond that."

"Hey, Frank, talk about your lawyers, you ought to be one," declared Jerry.

"But you see I want to help Jed, if I can. He is in trouble, and we must stand by him, fellows."

"And we will. Do you think the old humbug has really gone home?" asked Will.

"Perhaps he may get out a warrant to take Jed away, and bring some officer up here to serve it," suggested Jerry.

Frank did not appear alarmed, as he continued:

"Somehow, I don't seem to believe it. Dobson looked worried when I spoke about his cruel treatment of the bound boy. He knows the law would never stand back of such a thing. Then he fears your father, Bluff. Perhaps he has more reason now, than ever, for getting his hands on the boy."

Jed was wringing his hands and looking exceedingly unhappy.

"He'll get me, sooner or later, I know it. One way or another, he never gives up a thing he has set his heart on; and he wants this locket very much. Oh! won't you take it, and keep it for me, please?" he asked.

"Why, certainly I will, only not just now. How do we know but what he is watching us, even at this very minute. Pretend to put it away again, Jed, and manage to slip it to me unseen. I promise you that it will never leave my person, and when you want it again, all you have to do is to ask."

"Thank you. If you only knew how much better you have made me feel.