"No, let me?" pleaded little Roger, "cause I ain't hardly seen him a bit lately." "But you must not tell that we sold papers," directed Joe. "Father is not to know yet, you know." "Oh, I won't tell," Roger promised. "But you might forget," argued Dorothy. "Nope," declared the little fellow, "I'll just let this strap keep squeezing me, then I couldn't forget." "And have father ask where you got it," said Joe laughing. "Then I'll tie a string round my finger," persisted the younger brother. "I'll tell you," Dorothy concluded, "You just run in, give father a good hug, put the paper on his lap and run out again without saying a word. Then he will think you are playing newsboy." This plan was finally decided upon, although Roger did think he would like to stay for "just a little while" to hear "Daddy" say "something about something." They found the major anxiously expecting them. He feared something had happened--the press might break down, or the paper supply give out, Many things might occur when the man who ran the business was not there to keep ends straight. To say that the major was pleased was not half telling it--he was delighted. To think that they could get out a paper like that! And that his Little Captain should write up the parade. It really was well described. Perhaps what astonished him most was Tavia's part in the issue. He laughed when Dorothy told how jolly Tavia was. Of course, there was no mention of the encounter with the strange man. But that night Dorothy could not sleep. The excitement perhaps, or was it fear? Oh, if that horrid man had never come to Dalton! CHAPTER IV A CLEW As the druggist had anticipated, a citizens' committee was formed to run down the assailant of Dorothy and Tavia. The hat bore the mark of a Rochester house, so that was something of a clew. A hatless man ought to be easy enough to identify, but of course, he had managed to get a head covering somewhere; stole it, perhaps, from an open hallway. But, after an exhaustive search, and much questioning of persons who might have seen the man, no news of importance was turned in at the committee meeting. Mr. Travers had what he considered a tangible clew. Miles Burlock had told him that a man from Rochester had been hounding him for weeks, and that he pretended to know something of Burlock's business. "Burlock, it seems," Mr. Travers said at the meeting, "was, in some way, connected with the Douglass family. There is money in the affair, however it may concern Burlock and Mrs. Douglass, and this stranger is after the cash." "But what in the world has these children to do with that?" asked the chairman. Ralph Willoby stood up.