Willie recognized her at the first glance--
she was the very girl he had seen burying the dead man
in the Squibbs woods. Instantly Willie Case was trans-
formed again into the shrewd and death defying sleuth.
At a safe distance he followed the girl and the bear
through one alley after another until they came out upon
the road which leads south from Payson. He was across
the road when she joined Bridge and his companions.
When they turned toward the old mill he followed them,
listening close to the rotting clapboards for any chance
remark which might indicate their future plans. He
heard them debating the wisdom of remaining where
they were for the night or moving on to another loca-
tion which they had evidently decided upon but no
clew to which they dropped.
"The objection to remaining here," said Bridge, "is
that we can't make a fire to cook by--it would be too
plainly visible from the road."
"But I can no fin' road by dark," explained Giova. "It
bad road by day, ver' much worse by night. Beppo no
come 'cross swamp by night. No, we got stay here til
morning."
"All right," replied Bridge, "we can eat some of this
canned stuff and have our ham and coffee after we
reach camp tomorrow morning, eh?"
"And now that we've gotten through Payson safely,"
suggested The Oskaloosa Kid, "let's change back into
our own clothes.
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