"But just think of what it would have been like if we hadn't stopped 'em!" gasped Danny Grin solemnly. "We couldn't have chased 'em. It wouldn't have been decent for us to go along the road, making four miles to every five covered by the horse. No, sir! We'd have had to remain hidden in the forest until we could signal some farmer to send to our folks for clothes to put on. Wouldn't it have been great, staying in the woods two or three days, with nothing to eat, waiting for the proper clothing to enable us to go out into the world again!" "It was a mean trick!" cried Darry hotly; and then he began to laugh as the ridiculous features of the situation appealed to him. "But nothing serious happened," laughed Dick, "so we owe that pair of tramps for a pleasant touch to the morning's sport." "I wonder how many years since either of them has had a bath, until this morning," grinned Reade, as he began to lace his shoes. As Reade was dressed first, Dick called to him: "Take the horse out of the shafts, Tom, and let him feed in comfort." "You may," laughed Reade. "As for me, I've flirted with my breakfast so long this morning, and have taken so many chances of not having any, that now I'm going to make sure of that first of all." So Dick himself attended to the horse. Dan was already gathering firewood, which Dave piled into the stove in the wagon. Soon water was boiling, coffee was being ground, tins opened, and a general air of comfort and good fellowship prevailed in that forest. "We'll have to give you the palm for being a good trainer, Dick," declared Tom, taking a bite out of a sandwich and following it with a sip of coffee, "but you have one short-coming. You're no fortune teller. So, as you can't foretell the future, I vote that, after this, we breakfast in the morning and swim later in the day. It would affect my heart in time, if we had to battle every morning for our breakfast in this fashion." "I can't get over the impudence of those tramps," muttered Darry, as he set his coffee cup down. "They couldn't hope to get away with the horse and wagon and sell them in these days of the rural telephone. They couldn't use our clothing for themselves. And yet they stole all we had in order to get hold of our food. At that, they didn't care what became of us, or how long we had to travel about in these woods without food or clothing." "The tramps must be optimists," laughed Prescott. "Probably they had an abiding faith that all would turn out well with us, and so proposed to help themselves to what they needed." "I wonder whether they'll fool with our outfit again," pondered Tom grimly, "if they come across it in our absence." "I don't know," said Dick gravely. "As you've already reminded me, I am no foreteller of the future." CHAPTER VIII WHEN THE PEDDLER WAS "FRISKED" It was a hot and dusty road that lay before them when they again took up their march that day.