“Let’s stay here and see what happens,” suggested Ned. “I’d like to know who that other man is. Maybe there’s spy work going on in our camp!” It was within the bounds of possibility. Waiting in the shadows, the motor boys heard the footsteps die away. Then the murmur of voices sounded again. They came nearer, and indicated that those who were talking were outside the barn. “Well, I’ll tell him you want to see him,” said the man who was with the crooked-nosed fellow. “You’d better! He can have all the games he wants with Pug, but he’s got to make a settlement with me. I took all the risk, and he got all the money. I want my share!” “I’ll tell him!” “And now about this storehouse business,” went on the other. “Can you get into it?” “I have an extra key. And Kratzler----” “No names!” warned the other quickly. “You can’t tell who may be sneaking about. Nix on the names!” Then the voices died away again, and the boys, listening, could hear nothing more. “There’s something wrong going on here!” decided Ned. “Did you hear Pug’s name mentioned twice?” “Yes,” assented Jerry. “But it may not be the one we know.” “I believe it is,” went on Ned. “We’ve got to find out more about this. There they go!” He pointed to two figures, dimly seen. They were moving rapidly away across the field. “Come on!” exclaimed Ned, in a tense whisper. Just then in the distance, two shots rang out. “That’s the signal!” cried Jerry. “They’re ending the sketch ‘The Sentry’s Last Challenge.’ We go on right after that in the final chorus. We’ve got about five minutes to make it. Come on! Hike!” “But what about these fellows?” asked Bob. “We’ll have to let them go,” decided Ned. “We can’t afford to spoil the minstrel show for the sake of something that may not amount to anything.” “Not even to catch Crooked Nose?” asked Bob, in disappointed tones. “We’ll take up his case later,” said Jerry. “Just now we’re minstrels. Come on.” There was nothing else to do, and though the boys wanted to remain and, if possible, solve the mystery, they felt that they owed it to Captain Trainer to make the minstrel show a success. They had important parts, and the shots they had heard fired were blank cartridges, discharged during the enactment of a little skit, played by some members of their company. The two men had disappeared in the shadows, and it was a question whether the boys could have spied on them to any further advantage that night. So they hurried back, arriving just in time to take part in the last chorus. After the show, which was voted a big success, the boys debated among themselves whether they should report what they had seen and heard and mention Pug Kennedy’s name. Also they talked of the time when they had seen Pug have a midnight meeting with some one. “There was more in that than appeared on the surface,” declared Ned.