d come into his mind that had not come into theirs; and he disliked to be annoye

mself in the clump of bushes beside the Upper Road when the automobile load of boys had

king, and Whistler knew that the spot in which he was interested must be directly b

avy, and he worked just as hard as his mates all through the noon hour. But the puzzle connected with t

bore some fruit. Three men promised to go down to the enlistme

inner; but Whistler excused himself. He was hungry enough;

got here," directed Whistler. "I'll meet

er with you, Whis

he knew that his chum would do as he was asked, and

in this direction. The land near the dam which had been built across

ce of scrub at the foot of the dam. One could jump a rabbit in it, or

with full knowledge of its tangled brier patches and rough quarries. He started diagonally for the dam, and in a brief time c

of masonry which loomed ahead of him. If there should be any undiscovered weakness in the wall! Or if an enemy s

dge, level with the top of the barrier, lived a man they called the dam superintendent. H

all, or examined the face of it for any break in the stonework. Of course, the dam had st

e masonry which might endanger the foundation of the dam. Such seepage must

That man in the bushes, who had seemed so desirous of hiding from the passers-by and whose

looked about as much like an Englishman

w, "and not one of them ever looked like this chemist, or w

fellows came along the Upper Road. His interest was in this dam-if it was a

ad. "Say! that won't do. We fellows came near getting poor Seven Knott into trouble, thinking him

wn and the water poured into the rocky river bed. There were stepping s

e sounded a pleasant murmur from the falling water. Birds darted in and

othing on the face of the dam nor along its foot that s

to the falling water that the spray splashed him. It was somewhere about here,

was kept cleared out at the foot of the dam for a dozen feet or so; there seem

sh more vigorously just here at the edge of the pool, hidden by the spray i

tream. The rock was wet and his garments were fast b

pool, at its edge, struggling beneat

elbow. Quickly he made sure that his suspicion was corre

Yet under that stone was the end of the wheel's axle with cogwheels rigged to pass

. Then he stood up and looked all around to see if he had been observed. Particularly did he look through the break

lter of a clump of brush. He heard an automobile chugging up from the village and believed

s was no boy's plaything. The mechanism was the effort of a matu

water power here; and if Whistler told of his dis

t the foot of the dam had been chosen for the

spicion. Just that little water wheel under the rock whirling and splashing by the power of the falling stream

e. The other boys were loud in their demands as to what he had been do

up there to the dam

," declared Whistler. "Because I coul

n there was to be got out of the