Evening star., 1932-11-13

Lets cut through ThompSon's, suggested
DON It'll be shorter"
"Yeh" chded Eddie, you ought to know
that short cut pretty well! You don't believe
LouiseIl see you this time of night, do you?"
Old Ira Thompson, Middleburg's richest
banker, lived in the towns most palatial home.
To walk around the large yard with its full
hedge made the trip several hundred yards
farther But his daughter Louise was the
very attractive reason why Don took this short
cut" many times when he really had to go out
of his way to do it.
"All right all right Don grinned good
naturedly. you've got to admit it's shorter"
The three slipped through an opening In the
hedge, and moved silently across the wide yard
Its good thing Bozo knows U.s." whispered
Eddie.
DOzO, Louise's prize winning terrier, came
- out of his kennel, wagging his stubby tail.
Don leaned over to pat the little dogs head.
Hi boy" he whispered. 'What're you doing
up so late?" He stood up. You wouldn't
think little dog like thatd be worth so much
money, would you? I heard Mr.. Thompson
tell man the other day he wouldn't sell him
for a thousand dollars. If he did, guess
Louise would die" The little fellow yawned
and trotted obediently back to his kennel when
the boys ducked through the hedge on the
other side of the yard.
and across the field they entered thick woods.
Among the trees they kept close together, all
more nervous than they cared to admit.
Breaking through some underbrllSh, Don
lifted small bush on a wooden base, and re-
vealed a hole in the ground. This was their
"Dugout"-an underground hiding place In
the woods They had spent almost a month
digging tunnel entrances and small subter-
ranean room
Flashing his light down the hole, Don slipped
in followed closely by Jack and Eddie. who
pulled the little bush over the opening as he
brought up the rear. Crawling for some 10
feet on their hands and knees, they went
through a small door, and stood up in the dug
out room 10 feet square and feet high.
AS Don struck a match and Lit an oil lamp,
its rays fickered on a shaky table, three old
chairs and tattered rugs which hung on the
walls Another old rug which hung on the
wooden floor, and on one side was a crude
fireplace
THE boys pulled chairs to the table and sat
down.
We'll fellows" began Don, 'if you want,
I'll start the meeting"
Eddie and Jack hitched their chairs closer
to the table. The light threw dancing shadows
on the three eager faces as Don went on.
"The purpose of this club is going to be to
solve any mysteries that happen in Middleburg,
ana TO learn now 10 ue uelcCINcS' nc Paooeu'
and pulled book from his pocket. i've got
a book here-'How to Be Detective-I found
it in one of dads old trunks"
The yellow light fickered on the pages OF
the book as Don opened it and began to read:
"a good detective always notices everything
that goes on about him. Little things SEEM
ingly unimportant which escape the notice or
an ordinary person, may be the very clues
that will bring a dastardly criminal to justice.
The detectives alert ear catches every sound
His keen eyes -"
Suddenly twig cracked sharply over the
roof of the little room. Bits of earth fell on
the table,
Whats that?" gasped Eddie.
Tensely the boys huddled around the feeble
light the shaky table, staring Hde-eyed at
each other. Then, their hearts skipped beat
as mufned. gruff voices came froua, over their
tn he continued next Sunday.