"Why didn't he come himself?" asked Frank. "It seems to me he's been making a catspaw of you."

"Yes, haven't you read the story? A monkey wanted to draw some chestnuts out of the hot ashes, but, feeling a decided objection to burning his own paws in the operation, drew a cat to the fire and thrust her paw in."

"I don't know but it's been so in my case," said Dick. "I didn't want to do it, and that's a fact. I felt as mean as could be when I first came into your yard to-night. But he offered me two dollars to do it, and it's so seldom I see money that it tempted me."

Frank looked puzzled. "I don't see," he said thoughtfully, "how anybody should think it worth while to pay two dollars for such a piece of mischief."

"Perhaps he don't like you, and wanted to plague you," suggested Dick.

The thought at once flashed upon Frank that John Haynes must be implicated. He was the only boy who was likely to have two dollars to invest in this way, and the suggestion offered by Dick of personal enmity was sufficient to supply a motive for his action.

"I believe I know who it is, now, Dick," he said quietly. "However, I won't ask you to tell me. There is one boy in the village who thinks he has cause of complaint against me, though I have never intentionally injured him."

"What shall you do about it, Frank?" asked Dick, a little awkwardly, for he did not want his own agency made public.