“We came down here to ask you what we ought to do about it, and we want particularly to know your opinion concerning the trick Dan and his father played on us.”

“That is easily given,” replied the General.  “My opinion is that Master Don is just ten dollars out of pocket.”

“You don’t mean that I must pay it over again?” exclaimed Don.

“No, I don’t mean that, because you haven’t paid it at all.”

“Why, father, I——­”

“I understand.  Dan made a demand upon Bert, and Bert borrowed five dollars of his mother and gave it to him.  Godfrey came to you for the other five, and you gave it to him.  David has not yet been paid for breaking the pointer.”

“No, sir; but we supposed that his father and brother had authority to ask us for the money.”

“You had no right to suppose anything of the kind.  You ought to have paid the money into David’s own hands, or else satisfied yourselves that he wanted it paid to some one else.  Among business men it is customary, in such cases, to send a written order.  You must pay David, and this time be sure that he gets the money.”

“Whew!” whistled Don, who was very much surprised by this decision.  “That will make a big hole in the money I was saving for Christmas; but David needs it more than I do, and besides it belongs to him.  What shall we do to Godfrey and Dan?  They obtained those ten dollars under false pretences, did they not?”

“I don’t know whether a lawyer could make a case out of that or not,” said the General, with a laugh.  “I am afraid he couldn’t, so you will have to stand the loss.  Perhaps you will learn something by it.”

“I am quite sure that I have learned something already,” replied Don.  “But now about Dan and Lester.  How are we going to keep them from interfering with David?”

“Why, it seems to me that I could hide my traps where they would never think of looking for them, and where I would be sure to catch quails, too.  If I thought I couldn’t, I would set them all on this plantation, and any one who troubled them would render himself liable for trespass.”

“Aha!” exclaimed Don, who caught the idea at once.

“But, in order to throw Dan off the scent entirely, you might have David come up to our shop every day and build his traps there.  He will find all the tools he wants, and those shingles we tore off that old corn-crib will answer his purpose better than new ones, because they are old and weather-beaten, and look just like the wood in the forest.  When I was a boy, I never had any luck in catching birds in bright new traps.  When the birds are caught, he can put them into one of those unoccupied negro cabins and lock them up until he is ready to send them off.”

“That’s the very idea!” cried Don, gleefully.  “We knew that if there was any way out of the difficulty, you would be sure to see it.”