“Head,” replied Dick.

“Tail again,” announced Rand.  “Luck is with you, Donald.  There is only Pepper left now.”

“Only Pepper!” exclaimed that individual indignantly.  “What is the matter with me?”

“Notin’ at ail, me darlint,” broke in Gerald; “shure, your the biggest banana in the bunch, av people only knew it.”

“Well, Pepper?” said Rand.

“Heads.”

“Head it is,” announced Rand.  “You’re it, Pepper.”

“Begorrah, ’tis a long tail that has no head,” commented Gerald.

“Master Pepper Blake,” began Rand, “has been chosen to carry our message of defiance to the tribe of the Highpoints.”

“When do I go?”

“At the rise of the sun to-morrow,” replied Rand, “you must be prepared to take the trail.”

“Before breakfast?”

“We will not require that sacrifice of you,” said Rand.  “Here is the message.  Fail not on your honor to deliver it.  You are going through a hostile country beset with enemies—­”

“Monkey Rae’s,” murmured Gerald.

“And the message must be delivered under all circumstances.  It contains information of the utmost importance, which must not be allowed to fall into the enemies’s hands.  I will meet you to-morrow at the great oak to give you your final instructions.”

“Very well, sir,” replied Pepper, “I will not fail to carry out your commands to the letter.”

“Bravo, boys, well done!” commended Mr. Scott, who had been standing in the doorway, unseen by the boys, enjoying the fun.  “If I was only a little younger, there is nothing I would like better than to be an Indian brave with you.”

For a moment the boys were silent in the presence of the bank president, whom they all regarded with more or less awe, until Gerald broke the silence.

“Shure, ’tis niver too late to have fun, Mister Scott,” he said.  “We’d be plased to have ye for one of us.  We’ll make ye prisident an’ ye’ll find it a hape more fun than bein’ the prisident av the bank.”

“I don’t doubt it,” replied Mr. Scott laughingly, “but I’m afraid I am almost too old to keep up the pace you set.  But I’ll tell you what I am going to do.  I am going on an outing some of these days and I am going to invite you all to go along with me.”

“Hurrah!” cried the boys with a will.

“Ready Uncas!” called Don, raising his bugle, “the Scout salute!”

As the room rang with the noise Mr. Scott clapped his hands to his ears.

“Thanks,” he said; “Mrs. Scott sent me up here to see if there was anything the matter, you were so quiet, but after that I think she will conclude that you are all right.”

“What is that you have there, Rand?” he added as he caught sight of the coin that Rand had been using to toss up.  “Where did you get it?”

“Those are the ones that we found in the road,” replied Rand.  “Do you know what they are?”