"Far be it from me to stop you," growled Will. "He must have passed
near enough to touch you, and you let him get away."

"Well, you needn't rub it in," retorted Roy, turning upon him
savagely, while the girls looked from one to the other
uncomprehendingly. "You ought to know I'm sore enough without having
you find fault."

"Cut it out, fellows," Frank put in peaceably. "It wasn't anybody's
fault; just hard luck, that's all."

"But what?" Mollie interrupted impatiently. "What happened?"

"Well, you see it was like this," began Will, still in a bad temper.
"We fellows decided that our friend, Adolph Hensler, might have some
mistaken longings for the code letter he dropped, and might follow us
and try to steal it back. So we thought we'd set a trap for him by
keeping watch, turn and turn about, in such a position that he
couldn't possibly see us."

"Yes, and that's about all," Roy, speaking bitterly, took the story
away from Will, "except that it was yours truly's turn at sentry
duty, and he went to sleep, leaving Adolph a clear field."

"And did he really come back?" asked Betty, glancing apprehensively
over her shoulder as though she was afraid the rascal might be close
at hand.

"Yes, he really did," said Roy, still bitterly. "And if I hadn't
happened to see him coming out of the window--"