"I told you, I don't know nothin' about 'em!"

"And we accept your word, Jack."

"Then you said I took wood and the Widow's black dress."

"No, Jack, we merely were telling you what she said. Unfortunately, when one has a past record, it's apt to plague one unjustly."

"Sure, I'm a bad kid! I know!" Jack said, his eyes flashing. "Okay! Send me to an industrial school! But try to keep me there! I'll run away a thousand times!"

"You're talking wildly now, Jack. No one wants to send you away. Quite the opposite. Mrs. Jones likes you. She's willing to overlook a lot to keep you with her."

"She's been pretty decent to me," Jack admitted, softening again. "I did take food out of the ice box without asking her. Not very much though.

Just enough so I could get along out here in the woods."

"She's worried about you now, Jack. She asked me to send you home, if I saw you."

"Oh, I'll go," Jack sighed. "I'd intended to anyhow as soon as this rabbit finishes cooking. It's done now, I guess."

The boy removed the rabbit from the spit, and salted it, using a shaker which the Cubs were certain had come from Mrs. Jones' home.

"Have some?" he invited the Cubs.

They declined.

"Well, I'm hungry," Jack announced.

Dismembering the rabbit, he gnawed at the tough meat. Now and then as he ate, he glanced at the Cubs.

Having finished his meal, he put out the fire and cleaned away the debris. The Cubs noted that he was efficient at it, leaving not a spark which could set off a forest fire.

"I'll go back to Mrs. Jones' place now and chop more wood," Jack said finally, picking up the rifle. "I'll chop and chop until my hands bleed!"

"I hardly think Mrs. Jones will require that," Mr. Hatfield said, smiling. "By the way, Jack, who do you figure may be taking that wood?"

The boy gave him a quick, knowing look.

"I don't stay up nights watching!"

"But you have a fairly good idea where it is going?"

"Maybe. Maybe not."

"Jack, if you wanted to cooperate, you could be very helpful."

"I mind my own business. That's more than I can say about some folks."

His resentment returning, Jack glared at the Cubs.

"You guys think you're so smart and know so much about camping out and the like!" he scoffed. "Why, you're babes in the woods! If you weren't so dumb, you wouldn't have to ask so many stupid questions. You'd see for yourselves what's going on around here."

"Why, you conceited-" Red began, but Dan checked him with a hard kick in the ankle.

"Maybe we are sort of dumb," Brad said, falling in with Jack's mood.

"You're probably right, we don't know what's going on around here. That's because we're not on the scene much of the time. You're roaming the woods and the marsh every day. I suppose you've seen things we haven't."

"You're darn right I have," Jack boasted. "I could tell you something about that black dress, if I had a mind to! What's more, I could tell you about the money box-"

The boy broke off, suddenly aware that he was talking entirely too much.

"What about the money box?" Mr. Hatfield asked quietly.

Jack, however, started off through the woods.

"Wait!" Dan called after him.

Jack turned around, but his eyes were unfriendly and defiant.

"You won't get anything out of me!" he taunted the Cubs. "I could tell you a lot if I wanted to. But I won't! I'm not forgetting that it was the Cubs who took me back to the Child Study Inst.i.tute!"

CHAPTER 16 Inside the Log

Jack Phillip's hint that he was in possession of vital information relative to the missing money box amazed the Cubs.

Even Mr. Hatfield was so taken by surprise that for the moment he made no attempt to detain the boy.

"Say, are we going to let him get away again?" Brad demanded. "He knows what became of that money box!"

"He took it himself, that's why!" muttered Chips. "Who does he think he is, anyhow? Someone that doesn't have to obey the law?"

"Jack does have a few things to explain," Mr. Hatfield said quietly.

"Now, take it easy, boys. He'll not elude us."

"He's heading for the road now!" Red said excitedly. "If we don't stop him quick, he'll slip away and we may never see him again!"

"We'll head him off," the Cub leader replied, undisturbed. "Brad, you and Dan and Midge start through the hollow which is shorter than the path he's taken. The rest of us will come up from the rear."

"Sure!" Brad said eagerly. "We'll get him!"

"Just circle in and don't use any force. In fact, don't try to hold him until I get there. He has a rifle, you know. It may or may not be loaded, but we're taking no chances."

"We'll be careful," Brad promised, already starting off with Midge and Dan.

At a fast lope, the three boys followed the low ground. For a considerable distance they were unable to see the boy they pursued.