Pop had gotten some of the flour in his eyes, indeed, his face was white from top to bottom, and it was several minutes before he could see what he was doing. His sneezing made him bump his head against the kitchen shelf, and at a point where sat a bowl of rice pudding. Part of the pudding was plastered to his forehead, while the balance turned over on to the cat sleeping on the floor. "Me-ow!" wailed the cat, and started across the kitchen on a run, nearly upsetting Mrs. Green in its hurry to get away from more trouble. "Stop! Did you kick my pet cat?" screamed Mrs. Green. "Oh, you--ker--chew! You brute! I never--ker--chew! Ker--chew!" And then she had to stop talking and let the sneezing have full play. "I didn't kick--ker--chew--nuffin!" spluttered Aleck. "I'se dun--ker--chew--dem boys dun--ker--chew! Dern boys did it." "Did what?" "Put flour in ma hat, de ole boy take 'em!" finished Aleck, and then he blundered out of the kitchen and tried to find Larry and the others. But all of the cadets, who had been watching proceedings through the kitchen window, had vanished and could not be found. A couple of hours later Tom and Dick took the colored man down to the Stanhope cottage. Mrs. Stanhope already knew the man well, as did Dora, and both were glad that he had come to stay with them. Pop had brought along a pistol, and also a war club he had picked up in Africa, and declared himself ready to meet any and all comers. "I'se dun learned how to shoot putty straight," he remarked. "So de fellers wot prowls around bettah look out fo' demselbes." "Crabtree is in jail, so you will only have Dan Baxter to guard against," said Dick. "And I hardly think he will show up in a hurry." That night Dick and Tom had a long conversation with Mrs. Stanhope. The lady was very nervous, and when asked if she would appear against Josiah Crabtree she shivered from head to foot. "I--I cannot do it," she said brokenly. "Do not ask it of me! He--he-- I cannot face him without he makes me feel as if I were in his power." "He is something of a hypnotist," said Tom. "Cannot you remember that, and nerve yourself against coming under his spell?" But the lady only shivered again. "No! no! I have tried it--for Dora's sake--but I cannot do it! I am horrified at his influence, but I cannot withstand it." "Then you will keep away from the court room when he is tried?" "Yes, I must. I will get my doctor to issue a certificate that I am ill." "Will you let Dora testify? If she wishes to do so." There the matter rested, and the two boys sought out Dora. "It is too bad," said Dick, on the way. "Mrs. Stanhope is on the verge of a nervous collapse, and I believe it is all on account of Crabtree's doings." "Yes, and I am afraid she will never get away from his influence. If he hadn't been something of a hypnotist I don't believe she would ever have taken to him at the start as she did."