David was embarrassed by this great amount of attention. “It was nothing,” he assured them. “Each one of you would have done the same thing if you had had a rope.” “No, we wouldn’t,” they said, “especially if he had treated us the way he did you. He started it and was taking you there hoping you would be----” “Never mind that part of it. It’s all over now and, as I said before, it was nothing. I’m sure Miguel was only joking.” Miguel sat brooding through it all and David could not fail to notice it. “He’s sorry he put the ants into my rubber,” he thought with a smile. “Well, there won’t be any more of them for a few days at least, because he won’t be able to walk for a while. And, even when he can walk again, he can’t possibly be mean enough to play any more pranks like that on me.” It was therefore with a light heart that he started over his route the next morning. He had first looked at Miguel’s foot; it was swollen, but showed no signs of infection; so he washed and dressed it and told the man that if he remained in his hammock for a few days he would be all right. Miguel submitted to the ministrations and advice without a word. He seemed eager to have David care for his injured foot, but if he appreciated the attentions he received he gave no evidence of it. “He certainly is a queer character, but as Tiny Tim said, ‘God bless us every one.’ I can’t figure him out,” David thought as he left the shack. The first few trees he visited had not been tampered with. The little cups were full of the precious, snowy liquid. He was positive now that his conjecture had been right. Miguel was the culprit; as he had not been able to visit the route the day before the catch had not been spoiled. Then great was his consternation to find that the very next cup was filled with a little cake of curdled latex, as before; and upon cutting it open he found the decapitated ants. Miguel was not the guilty one, after all. But who was? Someone was certainly responsible for the state of affairs. The ants could not drop their heads and then plunge into the white liquid that served as their graves. Continuing his walk along the trail, he found that numerous other trees had been visited by the prowler that did so much harm, the same trees in most instances as before. There was now no one whom David could suspect and the solution of the mystery seemed hopeless. But he would outwit them all. Without saying a word to anyone, he would select a new line and tap the trees, being careful not to leave a blazed trail that would be so easy to follow. He began to collect the sap and threw the curdled pieces away as he turned his steps campward.