Believing that Dan was being searched for by the attorneys simply because of what he had done in the affair, Joe considered the amateur detective had such a claim upon him as could not be resisted; yet, at the same time, he was determined not to add a fourth member to aunt Dorcas's family. "Dan, you go an' tell her all I said,--tell her the whole truth if you want to,--an' most likely she'll let you stay; but I can't ask her to open up a reg'lar 'sylum for us fellers. Course I'm bound to do anything you say, seein's you got into this trouble through me; but I won't 'gree to sponge a livin' off the best woman that ever lived, when there's three others doin' the same thing." "Look here, you've _got_ to go back with me." Joe was in deepest distress, and after a pause of several seconds he said, slowly: "If you lay right down on my goin' to her house with you, I'll do it; but I won't stay there a single minute. The princess can be left where she is till I get back." Now was the time when Dan Fernald could exert his authority with effect, and he said, sharply: "If you go back without the kid, the old woman'll lay it to me. Now this is what you've _got_ to do. Take your bloomin' princess, an' act jest the same as if you hadn't met me. I'll wait till your aunt Dorcas gets through fussin' over the kid, an' then I'll flash up. Tell her I'm one of your friends, an' we'll see how she takes it." "But I don't want to do that, Dan," Joe cried, in distress. "You must, or I'll have to go to jail, an' when it comes to anything like that, the whole boilin' of us are in it. Go ahead, an' get the kid." Joe was no longer able, because of his sorrow and perplexity, to contend against the amateur detective, and, without making any further reply, he walked slowly towards Mrs. Weber's home, his heart heavier even than on that morning when he first read the advertisement which seemingly branded him as a criminal. CHAPTER XI. A BRIBE. It appeared very much as if Dan suspected Joe of treachery even in this matter of reclaiming the princess, for he followed him to Mrs. Weber's home, and there stood within a few paces of the door, where he might overhear all that was said. Now that the amateur detective was thoroughly alarmed concerning his own safety, he had ceased his grotesquely mysterious movements, and behaved very much like an ordinary boy. Not until Joe had knocked twice at the door was his summons answered, and then the old German lady stood before him, with the princess in her arms. He had hoped the child would recognise him, but was not prepared for such a hearty greeting as he received.