“And this rascal you called Robert—­is he the elder cousin who would profit by your failure to win out?’ asked Max, although he already understood that this must be true.”

The expressive face of their new friend clouded immediately.

“I’m sorry to say that it’s so, Max,” he admitted.  “Those envelopes of the letters I found in his coat gave it away.  The temptation was too great for Robert, who always showed considerable jealousy, because our uncle rather favored me.  And so when he learned in some fashion, I’m sure I don’t know how, that I was in a fair way of carrying out the provisions of uncle’s will, he must have determined to try and spoil my plans.”

“Oh! the cur!” snapped the indignant Steve, now seeing the depravity of the miserable plotter in full.  “I’m glad that some of you managed to give him a few good licks before he broke away.  And I’ll regret it to the last day of my life that I didn’t get a chance to show him.”

“And b-b-believe me!” exclaimed Toby, with a violent effort, “he’s going to carry the scratches I g-g-gave him on his f-f-face for a w-w-while.  If I’d known that he was Roland’s c-c-cousin I’d have dug a h-h-heap d-d-deeper, too!”

“I’m only hoping,” Roland, as we must call him after this, since he dropped the Grimes family when he admitted his identity, said, “this will teach him a lesson, and that he’ll leave me alone from now on.  But Robert is a terribly persistent fellow, and I’m afraid his failure may only spur him on to trying again.”

“Never mind, Roland,” said Steve, dwelling almost affectionately on the name, now that he knew the one who claimed it, “we’re going to stand back of you through thick and thin.  If those fox pups don’t eventually get to their prospective purchaser, we’ll have to know the reason why.  Isn’t that so, fellows?”

“My sentiments exactly,” said Max, promptly.

“Me, too!” exclaimed Toby.

“Ditto here!” added Bandy-legs.

“I want to say this,” observed Roland with a suspicious moisture in his fine eyes, “it was the luckiest hour of my life when I ran across this bunch of royal good fellows.  Why, only for you I’d as like as not have been ruined; because alone and single-handed I never could have stood out against two clever and unscrupulous schemers.  And I’ll never forget it as long as I draw breath.”

“There’ll be some people mighty sorry, though, I bet you,” Bandy-legs hastened to add, as he looked roguishly at Roland; “by which I mean those poor Grimeses, who have lost tonight the brightest star in the whole big Grimes constellation.  Why, I can just picture how they’ll all mourn—­Uncle Hiram, Uncle Silas, Uncle Nicodemus, and all those other uncles and aunts, with old Granddaddy Grimes weeping harder than any of the rest over the bereavement; for Obed is no longer in the flesh!”

The comical way in which Bandy-legs said this caused a general laugh; why, even the wondering prisoner on the floor, who, of course, could hardly understand the joke, had to grin at the humorous expression on the boy’s face.