Ned, Bob and Jerry, hearing this talk, wondered greatly. What could it mean?

“Come down out of there!” cried Mr. Martin. “Come down out of my haymow, and tell me what you mean! What are you after, anyhow?”

“We want to catch that crooked-nosed man,” answered Jerry. “We didn’t tell you before, but we think he is a thief.”

“Well, I come pretty near knowing you are!” was the grim retort. “Come down here!”

There was no choice but to obey, and rather puzzled as to what it all meant, and why Pug Kennedy should come to make such an accusation, the three chums slid to the barn floor from the haymow. They might miss their chance of catching the crooked-nosed man, but it could not be helped.

“There! What’d I tell you?” exclaimed Pug, pointing to Ned, as the chums faced the now angry farmer. “If those aren’t egg stains I’ll never eat another bit of chow!”

[184]

Too late Ned realized what his accidental slipping into the hen’s nest meant. The evidence was damaging against him. The whites and yolks of the eggs dripped from his hands, and there were stains on his uniform.

“Ha! Caught you, didn’t I?” exclaimed the farmer. “Now you’ll pay for this!”

“We’re perfectly willing to pay for the damage we accidentally did to your eggs,” answered Ned. “I believe I broke half a dozen, possibly more. But it was while I was crawling around, trying to get the crooked-nosed man, who was escaping.”

“It’s a good story, but it won’t wash,” laughed Pug Kennedy. “They were after your eggs, farmer, and that’s the truth.”

“I believe you, and I’m much obliged to you for telling me. It isn’t the first time I’ve been robbed by soldiers out on a hike, and I said the next time it happened I’d complain. I’m going to. You’ll come with me before your officers, and see what happens.”

“Oh, that’s all nonsense!” exclaimed Jerry. “We admit we broke some of your eggs by accident, and we’re willing to pay, and pay well for them. We didn’t intend to steal!”

“I should say not!” chimed in Ned, wiping his hands off on some hay.

“I don’t know what you might do,” was the answer. “I only know what I see—egg stains.[185] You might have sneaked into the barn if I hadn’t seen you. And when I did notice you, you told me some story about a crooked-nosed man to make it sound natural.”

“But there is a crooked-nosed man,” insisted Bob.

“Course there is,” said the farmer. “I admit that. But he isn’t such an unusual man. For all I know you may have seen him driving in with my wagon—he’d been to town—and you made up that story about wanting to see him.”

“Yes, we did see him driving,” admitted Bob. “And then we thought——”

He stopped. He realized that appearances were against him and his chums, and that any explanation they might make, especially after Ned’s mishap with the eggs, would seem strange.

“First I thought you were all right, and really did want to see my hired man,” went on the farmer. “But when this other soldier came and said he’d seen you go into my barn, and had heard you talking about getting eggs for a good feed, why, I realized what you were up to.”

“Did he tell you that yarn about us?” asked Jerry, looking at Pug.

“He did. And it’s the truth.”

“Well, it isn’t the truth, and he knows it!” cried Ned. “He’s taking this means of getting even because of what he thinks we did to him. All right![186] Let it go at that. We’ll go before the officers with you. We’re not afraid! We’ll tell the truth.”

“You’d better!” declared Mr. Martin. “You wait till I hitch up and I’ll take you back to camp. This soldierin’ business is all right, and I’m in full sympathy with it. But it isn’t right to rob farmers, and your officers won’t stand for it.”

“We didn’t intend to rob you,” said Jerry. “And while you are acting this way that man, who may be a desperate criminal, is escaping. If you are bound to take us before our officers, at least look after the ............