"It's risky for all of us," he said. "Have done with this nonsense. If you are going to do away with the thief, get to work; if you're not, why, let him go. We can't stand here all night chinning." "Off with your mask!" said the leader of the crowd, sternly. "All right," said the fellow, desperately; "I agree. Off with yours, then, all of you." Several of the crowd removed their masks. The stranger raised his hand, as if to take his off, but instead of doing so, he turned suddenly and made a rush for a thick growth of wood near which the scene we have just described had been enacted. In a few moments--before his companions could recover from their astonishment--he had disappeared. "After him, Hammond and Thompson, and you, Porter!" shouted the leader. "Don't let him get away from you." Then turning to Al, he added: "Boy, I believe we have made a mistake. That fellow is the real thief." "I don't know about that," said our hero, "but I do know I'm not." "If he isn't the thief, what motive could he have had in accusing an innocent person?" "Perhaps it is some one who has a grudge against me." "It must be an awful grudge to induce him to lay such a plot as that against you. Do you suspect anyone?" "I'd rather not mention any names," said Al. Here an old farmer, one of the three or four who had removed their masks, stepped forward. "Don't let this here boy fule yer," he said. "I b'lieve he's one o' the gang. Mark my word, it'll turn aout so." "You think so, do you, Mr. Chadwick?" said Al, quietly, looking the old man full in the face. "Yeou know me, dew yeou?" "Yes, and you ought to know me. Have you forgotten Allen Allston?" The farmer gasped for breath. "I'll be derned ef it ain't Jack Allston's boy!" he exclaimed. "Why, o' course I know yeou." "I told you my name before." "I wuz so 'xcited that I didn't take notice. I wuz so sure, yeou see, thet we hed the right one. Boys"--turning to the others--"I'll swear thet this here lad don't know no more 'baout who stole them hosses than we do. I know all his folks, an' there ain't a dishonest hair in the heads o' enny o' them. I'd ha' know'd him at fust, but I ain't seen him fer a year or more, an' he's grow'd. An' besides, my eyesight ain't what it used ter be. Boys, we've hed a narrer escape from committin' a murder." The men now crowded round Al and shook his hands, and apologized for their rough treatment of him. While they were thus engaged the three who had gone in pursuit of Al's accuser returned. "Ain't you got him?" cried Farmer Chadwick. "No, he gave us the slip. The moon has gone under a cloud, and in the darkness he got away. But we'll catch him yet." Then the man turned to Al. "Boy," he queried, "have you any suspicion as to who the fellow is?" Our hero hesitated, then he replied: "Yes, I have." "Who do you think he is?" cried two or three of the men together. "I would rather not say," replied the boy. "Why?" "Because I might be wronging an innocent man."