Thad Stevens said, as he joined his chum.

"That's a queer remark for you to make, Thad," the other chuckled; "after seeing what's been happening here on our athletic field this afternoon, I'd be likely to say there were a good many score of hens setting, each hoping to hatch out one of our dandy prizes next Saturday."

"Oh! you understand that I mean something crooked going on, Hugh,"
Thad hastened to add.

"That sounds serious enough. What do you know, Thad? The chances are ten to one if anything in the way of trickery is contemplated I can put my hand on the fellow who's guilty of the same."

"Sure thing, Hugh, and his name is Nicholas in the bargain. They call him Young Nick, to distinguish him from his father who's dead and gone; but sometimes people say he's a regular Old Nick when it comes to playing mean jokes, and getting into trouble of all kinds."

"What's Nick Lang been up to now, Thad?"

"Oh just spying on you, for one thing!" exclaimed the other angrily

"He's welcome to chase around after me as often as he pleases," said Hugh; "much good will it do him, I'm thinking. But tell me, why should he go to all that bother, when my going out and coming-in don't interfere with his happiness a whit?"

"Hugh, Nick is on to your scheme for making use of that short-cut across by way of the old deserted quarry!"

"You don't tell me?" Hugh observed. "Well, I came near speaking to him about it myself, Thad. You see, Nick is entered for the Marathon, just the same as a number of other Scranton High boys are. If K.K., Just Smith, and several other fellows are to have the benefit of that cutoff, if they choose to avail themselves of it, why shouldn't Nick be included, I've been asking myself? Yes, and I'd about concluded it was my duty to let him know; but if, as you say, he's found out for himself I'll be saved all the bother of telling."

"He followed you across yesterday, Hugh. By a mere accident I heard him telling Tip Slavin, and he seemed to think it a good joke, because you never once suspected he was spying on you from behind trees and bushes. Why, he says he followed you clear across to the road again."

Hugh shrugged his shoulders.

"Then I give Nick full credit for carrying out a clever piece of business. I never once remember suspecting that anybody was around. But, Thad, what's worrying you? There isn't anything about that discovery to excite you."

"Hugh, that boy means to do something mean, and it's got a connection with the short-cut quarry road in the bargain!"

Hugh turned and looked at the speaker a little gravely.

"I suppose now you've got some good reason for making that accusation,
Thad?" he ventured.

"Yes, I have," came the quick reply. "I heard him say something to that other sneak which I couldn't just catch, but it started Tip laughing like everything. He slapped a hand down on his knee, and went on to say: Fine, Nick, finer than silk! I bet you he'll be as mad as hops if he finds himself caught in such a trap, and loses the race. You can depend on me every time. My affair comes off right in the start, and I can easy get out there on my wheel long before the first runner heaves in sight. I'll coach Pete Dudley in his part, just as you were saying. It's the greatest trick you ever hatched up, Nick, the very greatest! Now, you can judge for yourself, Hugh, whether it's safe for you to try to cross by that same quarry road when the big Marathon race is on."

Hugh seemed lost in thought for a brief interval. When he spoke again there was a settled look of grim determination on his face that Thad could easily understand, knowing the other as well as he did.

"It isn't my way to show the white feather when the first cold wind starts to blowing, Thad, and no matter what Nick is planning to do I'm not going to give him the first chance to profit by my discovery of that short-cut route from road to road."

"That means you decline to be shoved off the path, does it, Hugh?"

"If I start in that race, as I expect to," Hugh told him, "I intend to make use of that short-cut, no matter if a dozen Tip Slavins, and Pete Dudleys are lying in wait to trip me up. But I'm much obliged to you all the same, Thad, for your warning. I'll be on my guard from this time on, and they're not going to trap me with my eyes blinded, I tell you that."

Thad seemed to be lost in thought himself for a minute or so. Possibly he was trying to figure out how he could best serve his comrade in such an emergency. The gloomy woods surrounding the old quarry did not possess any attraction in the eyes of Thad Stevens. Though he had not shown the same degree of alarm as Horatio and Julius at the time they heard those remarkable sounds, so like human shrieks, nevertheless, Thad felt no hankering after another similar experience.

Still he would brave much in order to help the chum whose interests were so dear to his own heart. He did not say what was in his mind, only looked a bit wise, as he once more turned to Hugh, as though his mind had been finally made up.

"Just as you think best, Hugh," he went on to say quietly. "It may be that one or more of the other fellows will be taking advantage of that same old road, and there's safety in numbers, you know, they say. Nick is likely to get his fingers burned if he attempts any of his silly tricks. What do you suppose now he could plan to have those chaps do? They wouldn't want to really hurt you, because that might get them in bad with Captain Wambold, our police head. Can you think of any fool play he'd be apt to conjure up, such as might make Tip say it was the best and slickest scheme he'd ever heard about?"

"Nick has so many wild ideas that he's likely to attempt nearly anything," said Hugh. "If he could find a good place where a runner would have to keep to the road I even believe he'd try to dig a deep pit, and cover the same over, just as the wild-animal catchers do in Africa, when they go out after big game for the menageries and zoos."

"Why, would that work, do you think, Hugh?" cried the startled Thad, mentally picturing his chum crashing through a false roadbed, and dropping down into a deep hole from which, alone and unaided, he could not hope to escape until much time had elapsed, and all hope of winning the big Marathon was lost.

"It might have done so if I hadn't chanced to possess a wide-awake chum, who gave me due warning, and caused me to keep a sharp lookout. As it is, if I glimpse a suspicious spot in my path I'll fight mighty shy of the same; or by a big leap give it the go-by. Of course, there might be other ways in which they could hope to detain me, such as dropping down on my shoulders from a tree, and with their faces covered so I couldn't recognize them."

Thad looked grave.

"Yes, they could do that, for a fact," he admitted. "Seems to me you'll have to keep one eye aloft all the while, Hugh, while the other is watching the ground for treachery. I must say this is a fine state of affairs. Not only does Scranton High have to go smack up against all the best runners of Allandale and Belleville, but be on the lookout for treachery at home besides. I'd give something to be one of a bunch of indignant fellows to take Nick Lang and his two pals out to the woods some fine night, and give the same a coat of tar and feathers, or else ride them on a rail. They're a disgrace to the community, and Scranton ought to take them in hand right away. That boy will set the town on fire yet I'm thinking, with his desperate tricks."

"He will, unless he soon sees a