“Yes, sir,” he gravely answered. “I beg your pardon, Colonel Gunn, for having unintentionally miscomprehended your prior remark. If I may be allowed a word with Randall, sir, it might serve to----” “Ah--certainly, certainly!” wheezed the colonel. Merry turned. Until then, Randall had not dared to break silence, knowing that the principal was a stickler for discipline. Now he leaned over the table toward Frank, his face white and tense. “Chip, I swear that I didn’t do it!” he cried passionately. “I never dreamed of such a thing!” “I hope not,” returned Frank, his eyes twinkling. Then, noting the terrible strain that Randall labored under, he became serious. “What is it, old man? What kind of trouble are you in?” “This heah officeh says that I stole a thousand dollahs last night!” cried out Randall, indicating the constable. Merry smiled. To any one who knew Bob Randall, the preposterous absurdity of such a charge was evident. Randall might be a murderer, but never a thief. “Why, old man,” said Frank, “surely there’s no evidence for such a charge? You have plenty of money, for one thing. For another, any one who knows you must believe you incapable of such a thing.” “Yo’ sho’ ahe true blue, Chip!” Randall cried eagerly. “Of co’se, no one would accuse a Randall of theft, except a low-down Yankee----” Colonel Gunn cleared his throat heavily. His face looked troubled, and Chip saw that he also found it hard to reconcile the charge with Randall’s character. “You--ah--are presupposing a good deal, gentlemen,” he declared ponderously. “In the first place, allow me to make the assertion that--ah--no one has accused Mr. Randall of the theft. Is that not right, constable?” “Yes, sir,” said the perplexed officer. “I didn’t accuse him, exactly. I only wanted to know how much he knew.” “A distinction with a difference,” said the colonel. Frank made a grimace of despair. If he was going to get to the bottom of this before time for mess, he would have to wade in. “Excuse me, sir,” he exclaimed, “but I know nothing of the circumstances referred to. I don’t see how I can help Randall, but if you’ll be good enough to explain the nature of the difficulty I’ll be only too glad to tell anything I know, or to do anything I can to help out matters.” “Ah--quite so, quite so, Merriwell!” Colonel Gunn swung around in his chair, taking a paper from the desk before him, and proceeded to elucidate. “Putting up at the Dobbs Hotel in the village, Merriwell, is a gentleman named--ah--Hostetter, Ezra Hostetter. It is his assertion that at some time last night, some person or persons unknown did feloniously gain admittance to his room at the hotel, and did--ah--remove from beneath his pillow a black leather wallet, containing--ah--certain papers. The wallet also contained a thousand dollars in hundred-dollar bills.”