While the swimmers had been occupied in the water at the lower end of the pond, Ted Teall had been wonderfully busy.

First of all, Ted had loaded himself with about half the clothing belonging to Dick & Co.  The shoes he had carried by tying each pair by means of the laces and swinging three pair around his neck.  The first load be carried swiftly through the woods until be came to a thicket where he hoped he would find concealment.

Then he had gone back for the other half of the clothing.  This, upon arrival at the thicket, Ted dropped in on top of the first installment.

“Now, I guess I ought to hide somewhere where there won’t be the least danger of them finding me.  Then I can see the fun when those fellows come ashore,” chuckled Teall.  “Hold on, though!  There’s one more debt to pay.  That confounded Hi Martin called the South Grammar a ‘mucker’ school.  I believe I’ll hide his clothes, too, for his saying what he did.  But I’ll have to go carefully, and see whether the fellows are still out of sight.”

Ted returned with a good deal of caution.  Then he discovered, by the sound of voices, that the swimmers were still at the lower end of the pond.

“Plenty of time to get Hi’s duds, too,” chuckled the pleased joker.  He slipped down close to the beach, gathering up all of Martin’s garments and the hat and shoes.

“Say, it must be fine to have a pretty well fixed father,” murmured Ted wistfully.  “All these duds of Hi’s are of the best quality.  I wonder if I’ll be able to wear clothes like these when I’m earning my own money?”

Then he started off, going more slowly than on his two previous trips, for he felt that he had plenty of time.  But at last the nearing voices of the returning swimmers warned him.

“They can’t see me,” chuckled Ted.  “If any of ’em chase me, I can make a quick dash for the road and they won’t dare follow me there.  They’d be afraid of running into other people.”

So Ted even dallied for a while.  Some of the angry words uttered reached his ears and delighted him.

“Hi Martin is hot with wrath, and I’m glad of it,” chuckled Ted to himself.  “So he thought I’d spare him, did he!  Huh!  The next time he’d better be a little more careful over his remarks about ‘mucker’ schools!”

Then Ted walked on again leisurely.

“I believe I’ll let these fellows stay here until about dark, hunting for their clothes, and not finding ’em,” reflected Teall.  “Then I’ll have Ed Payne drop around and tell ’em just where to look.  They can’t thump Payne, for he won’t be guilty of anything but helping ’em.  Then maybe Dick Prescott will pitch dynamite again for me to bat at!”

Teall gained the thicket that concealed the other clothing.  Just as he was about to cast Martin’s belongings after the other wardrobes, he was disturbed by a sound close at hand.

With a start Ted looked up.  Then he felt uneasy; frightened, in fact.  At his side stood a shabbily dressed man of middle age.  The man’s cheeks were sunken, though they burned with an unhealthy glow.  There was, in the eyes, also a light that made Ted creepy.