"Late in the afternoon they happened to overhear a talk between two Fairfield boys, and then and there learned about the scheme. It seems that four fellows in a car had already been gone an hour. They were to run up to the head of the line, and find out just how things lay. If a Fairfield competitor was running in the lead, of course nothing would happen; but in case it proved to be a Hickory Ridge scout _they had their orders_." "But see here, Elmer, wouldn't that knock them out of the organization. The rules of the scouts wouldn't stand for such an outrage," protested Lil Artha. "Hold on, Lil Artha," interrupted Elmer. "You don't seem to get on to the real facts. Nobody said a word about any scouts being connected with this thing." "Outsiders, then, you mean, Elmer?" "Yes, some of the crowd that used to run with Matt Tubbs when he was the terror of the county. You know they broke with him at the time he saw a great light. Some of the best in the bunch followed him into the Fairfield troop. Others laughed at the idea of turning over a new leaf. And they say there's a new bully cropped up in Fairfield, a fellow who used to sneeze in the old days every time Matt took snuff." "Yes," said Lil Artha, "I know--Eddie Johnston; and a bad egg he is, too." "Well," went on Elmer; "he's engineering this deal. The idea is that these four fellows will try to coax you to enter their ear for a lift, promising that nobody will ever hear about it, you see." "But they ought to know I'd laugh at 'em. I'm good for the rest of the hike, and could put on fresh speed if I sighted any feller coming along to bother me," the tall scout declared. "Well, in that case they had orders to jump you, get you in the car by force, and carry you off, to drop you ten miles away, perhaps at Little Falls. In that way, you see, Lil Artha, you would be eliminated from the game, because you had _entered a vehicle_, which is against the rules. And the second one in the race would win. That must be Felix Wagner." "Does he know about this?" demanded the excited scout, frowning. "Of course," answered Elmer, "we don't feel sure about it; but the chances are he doesn't. No fellow who has his heart in the true principles the scout movement stands for, could take a hand in such a nasty game. And I'm hoping that if Felix learned what has been done he'd be the very first to declare that he wouldn't accept a tainted title!" "Good for you, Elmer! I don't know Felix very well myself, but I want to think of him in that way, because he's a fellow scout. But look here. I guess I saw the bunch you speak of pass me by only a little while back." "Yes, I knew they had gone on ahead, because I saw that in several places your footprint was plainly marked in the tread of the auto tire in the mud," said the scout leader, quietly.