The men were turning back down the road now, having decided to telephone the Gridley police and then turn out more men and go into the woods for an all-night search.  Dick & Co. turned to go with the men.

“Say, you fellows,” Ted called after them.  “You going to shake me like that?  Who’s going back into the woods with me, if I take these clothes to Hi?”

“No one,” Dick retorted over his shoulder.  “You don’t have to take the clothes back, you know, unless you happen to consider it safer to do it.”

“Hang those fellows,” sighed Ted, as be gazed after the retreating Dick & Co.  “Well, I guess they’ve got me.  The wise thing will be for me to take these duds to Hi before he catches cold.”

So Ted gathered up the articles of apparel and with them started back into the woods.

“Hi, Hi!” he called, as be neared the thicket.

“Here,” came an angry voice.

“Here’s your old duds,” growled Teall, as he reached the thicket that concealed young Martin, and threw the things on the ground.

“It’s about time you brought ’em back,” snapped Hi, making a dive for his belongings.

“I had a good mind not to do it at all,” retorted Teall hotly.

“You’d have found yourself in hot water if you hadn’t done it,” Hi declared testily, as, having drawn on his underclothing, he seated himself to lace up his shoes.  Then he rose and reached for his trousers.

“See here, Ted Teall,” cried Hi suddenly, holding the trousers forward, “what did you do with my gold watch that was in the pocket of these trousers.”

“I didn’t see your old watch,” grumbled Ted.

“Then you lost it out of the pocket while running through the woods, did you?” insisted Hi angrily.

Teall felt cold sweat come out on his neck and forehead.  Well enough did he remember the gold watch, which was the envy of most of the schoolboys in Gridley.  Nor was there any denying the fact that the watch was absent.

“Honest, Hi; honest,” he faltered.  “I didn’t see the watch at all.”

“You’ve got to find it, just the same,” retorted Martin stubbornly.  “If you take things away and lose them you’ve got to find them, or make good for them.  Now, Mr. Smarty, I’m going home, and you’re going to find the watch.”

“Say, you might help a fellow and be decent about it,” pleaded Ted.

“I didn’t lose the watch, and I won’t help you look for it,” snapped back Hi Martin, as he strode away.  “But if you aren’t at my home with that gold watch before dark to-night, then you may look for things to happen to you!  Find the watch, or wait and see what the law will do to you, Mr. Ted Smarty!”

Right on the spot Ted Teall started to look, a feeling of dull but intense misery gnawing in his breast.

“Oh, gracious!  But now I’ve gone and done it!” groaned Teall, beginning to shake in his shoes.  “Now, I’m in a whole peck and half of trouble, for I’ll never be lucky enough to find that watch again!”