"No. I prefer to interview them alone."

"All right then, I'll stay here. But don't be too long, 'cause I want to drive down to the town an' git Bill Pixley, the chief o' police, or one of his men."

"I don't think you'll need any police, Mr. Lacy. I think we'll be able to fix this matter up to your entire satisfaction," answered Colonel Colby; and then left the office and made his way along the corridors to the guardroom.

His coming was a great relief to Jack and Fred, for they felt that in Colonel Colby they had a real friend. Yet they were much troubled, for they realized that the case looked black against them.

"Now tell me everything you know. Don't hold back a single item," said the colonel, as he seated himself on one of the stools.

Thereupon both cadets related their story in detail--how they had gone out with Frank Newberry and the others, how the two parties had become separated, and how they had lost their way, camped out over night, and finally found the woods road leading down to the Lacy farm, and then how Elias Lacy and his hired man had held them up and threatened them with arrest.

"And you do not know a single thing about the shooting of the cows?"

questioned the colonel, eyeing them sternly.

"Not a thing, sir," responded Jack, promptly.

"We don't know anything more about those cows than you do, sir," added Fred, vehemently. "We weren't anywhere near his place when they were shot."

"Then what do you two say to this letter?" continued the master of Colby Hall, and presented the communication to them.

Jack read the letter with Fred looking over his shoulder. Then, of a sudden, Fred gave a cry of amazement.

"I think I know who wrote that letter!" he exclaimed.

"You do!" returned Colonel Colby and Jack, simultaneously.

"I think so; although, of course, I am not sure." Fred looked at his cousin. "It would be just like him to do it."

"Who are you talking about, Fred?"

"I'm talking about Slugger Brown."

"Slugger Brown!"

"Do you mean Slogwell Brown?" queried the master of the school.

"Yes, sir."

"And what makes you think Brown wrote that communication?" demanded Colonel Colby. And now, somewhat to their wonder, the Rovers realized that the colonel seemed to be unusually interested.

"Because I once saw Brown writing in backhand fashion on the blackboard in the gymnasium," explained Fred. "He wrote a hand almost identical with that. I noticed it particularly, because he was amusing himself by writing one line slanting backward and the next line slanting forward."

"Did he know you were watching him?"

"Oh, no! I didn't stay there long enough for that. He was all alone, and as I didn't care to speak to him, I pa.s.sed out without his noticing it."

"How long ago was this?"

"Only about a week ago."

"Hum!" The colonel mused for a moment, knitting his brows closely as he did so. "That is worth investigating." He thought for another moment.

"You have nothing more to add to your story?"

"No, sir," answered Fred.

"I think we've told you everything, Colonel Colby," returned Jack. "We are innocent, and I trust you will do all you can to help us prove it."

"I shall do what is absolutely fair in the matter," answered Colonel Colby; and then left the two boys once more to themselves.

Andy and Randy had begged for permission to talk things over with their cousins, and they came in to see Jack and Fred almost immediately after Colonel Colby left.

"If Slugger Brown wrote that letter, maybe he and Nappy Martell did the shooting," remarked Randy.

"They would be just mean enough to do it," added his twin. "They'd do anything to get our crowd into trouble."

"Why can't you two fellows watch Brown and Martell?" questioned Jack.

"You might tell Gif and Spouter and Ned about it, too. Find out where those two fellows were yesterday afternoon, and find out if they used any of the shotguns."

"Say! that's an idea!" cried Randy, enthusiastically. "I'll go at it right away!"

"And so will I!" declared his brother. "Maybe we'll be able to lay the whole blame on that pair."

The twins talked it over with the others for a little while longer, and then were let out of the guardroom by a servant, who locked the door after them. As they came out into the main corridor of the Hall, they saw that Elias Lacy was just leaving Colonel Colby's office.

"All right, then, I'll wait," the old farmer was saying. "But I'll be back by to-morrow afternoon, an' if you can't prove by that time that them Rover boys is innercent, I'm a-goin' to have 'em locked up."

"Very well, Mr. Lacy," the colonel replied, and bowed his visitor out of the door.

"Well, anyway, the colonel has got old Lacy to wait another day,"

whispered Randy. "That will give us just so much more time to get on the track of what Martell and Brown have been doing."

"All provided they are really guilty of playing this dirty trick,"

answered his brother.

In the upper hallway the twins ran across Ned Lowe, and immediately took that cadet into their confidence, and asked him if he would not try to find out for them where Brown and Martell had been the previous afternoon.

"For, you see, we can't ask them ourselves," explained Randy. "If we did that they would become suspicious at once."

"All right, I'll do what I can," answered Ned, and made off without delay. He came back in less than fifteen minutes, looking much excited.

"How did you make out?" queried Randy, eagerly.

"Great! I want you two fellows to come upstairs at once while Brown and Martell are out of their rooms. And I think you had better bring along one of the teachers as a witness."

"Why, what have you learned, Ned?" questioned Andy.

"I saw them down near the gymnasium, and sneaked up behind them, and by rare good luck heard them talking about two shotguns that belonged in the gun rack. They were wondering how they could get them from their rooms back into the gun rack without detection."