“What is it this time, addition or multiplication?” asked Donald.

“Must be division, I think,” laughed Jack.  “I was wondering if Sam had anything to do with the robbery of Judge Taylor’s office.”

“Of course not,” asserted Pepper.  “What would he want to do that for?”

“I don’t know,” answered Jack, “or what any one else would, for that matter.  But it would be just like him.”

“I don’t think he was guilty of that,” remarked the colonel, “that was the work of men.”

“But there was a boy in it,” asserted Jack.

“It wouldn’t be Sam,” declared Pepper.  “He might put others up to it, but you wouldn’t find him climbing in any windows!”

“See anything of Monkey lately?” interjected Rand.

“Not since the day he stole the fish,” returned Pepper.

“Haven’t seen him in three or four days,” said Dick.  “It’s queer, too, for he used to come in the shop almost every day.  Nor Sam either; they must be camping out somewhere.”

“Hope it isn’t around here!” cried Pepper.  “Say, fellows, we had better take a scout through the woods and make sure.”

“Come along, then,” said Rand, “and we will rout him out if he is anywhere about.”

Starting out under the leadership of Rand the boys explored the woods in every direction for some distance from the camp without seeing any signs of any one being in the neighborhood.

“Going back to the flag,” said the colonel, when the boys had returned, “while we are waiting for the dinner to be done, can any of you tell the history of the flag?  Of its origin and how it came into being?”

“The first American flag was made in Philadelphia by Betsy Ross, in 1775, was it not?”

“According to tradition,” replied the colonel, “but history doesn’t bear it out.  The earliest flag to be used by the colonies was the Liberty Flag, which was presented to the Council of Safety of Charleston, by Colonel Moultrie, in September, 1775.”

“What was it like?” asked Rand.

“It was adapted from the Boston Liberty Tree, and was a blue flag with crescent in the dexter corner and the word ‘Liberty’ running lengthwise.”

“There were other flags, too, weren’t there?” asked Jack.

“Yes, there was the Rattlesnake Flag.”

“The Rattlesnake Flag!” cried Pepper.  “What was that like?”

“The Rattlesnake Flag was of the same date, 1775.  It was a yellow flag with the representation of a rattlesnake coiled, ready to strike, in green, and the motto below it:  ‘Don’t tread on me.’”

“Gee!” said Pepper, “it must have been a beauty.”

“Were there any more?” asked Gerald.

“There was the Pine Tree Flag, with the motto ‘An Appeal to Heaven.’  This motto was adopted April, 1776, by the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts as the one to be borne as the Flag of the Cruisers of that colony.  The first armed vessel commissioned under Washington sailed under this flag.  It is thought that this flag was used at the battle of Bunker Hill.”