"Having a picnic, are you?" demanded the strange voice. "The best ever!" Dick replied heartily. "Lots of fresh vegetables, too, eh?" "Ye-es," Dick assented slowly, and with a peculiar feeling. He recalled the laughing talk of the girls about "stealing," and now wondered what was about to happen. "I guess they're the girls I want, then," continued the voice of the unseen speaker. Dick & Co. felt a swift spasm of uneasiness, for that voice sounded as though it might belong to the law. A moment later a roughly dressed man moved down into the circle. "My name is Dobson," said the new comer, looking hard at the girls. "I reckon you were in my truck garden this afternoon, weren't you?" "Why---er----ye-es," admitted Laura, the first to find her voice. She rose and faced Mr. Dobson with a look of budding uneasiness. "Took lot of my vegetables, didn't you?" pressed the farmer. "Ye-es," faltered Laura, "but-----" "Excuse me, miss, but there aren't many kinds of 'buts' about a transaction of that kind," insisted the farmer. Here, Dr. Bentley, who had looked less concerned than anyone else present, broke in: "Your name is Dobson?" he asked. "Not Gibson, then?" pressed the doctor. "Course my name isn't Gibson, if it's Dobson," retorted the farmer. "There is a man named Gibson who lives 'bout a quarter of a mile from my place." "Then I imagine I shall have to take you one side and have a little conversation with you," smiled the doctor, rising. "Will you follow me?" The farmer nodded without speaking and the two men walked away. Ten minutes later Dr. Bentley returned to the young people. "I appeased the farmer's wrath," he announced, with a laugh. "And now, young ladies, if my judgment is worth anything, I think it is about time to let the cat out of the bag." Eight high school girls flushed and looked rather confused. "Why, has anything wrong been going on?" inquired Mrs. Bentley anxiously, while Mrs. Meade waited breathlessly for the reply. "Nothing extremely wrong," replied Dr. Bentley. "I will explain what happened. Some of these young ladies, having heard that boys occasionally rob orchards or gardens for a feast, laughingly promised the young hosts of this evening that they would steal the necessary vegetables for to-night's supper. Now, while some boys may sometimes do such things, it is needless to add that no boy with a good home and a mother's training is likely to become engaged in such petty pilfering. I don't believe the boys for a moment credited the girls with any real stealing." "We didn't," spoke up Dick promptly. "We knew there was a string to the joke somewhere."