if you think there is danger you oughtn't to want any more to share it."
"That is so," agreed Ruth. "Perhaps it will be better to let them try by themselves.
But Paul and Russ evidently were going to have no easy task in capturing the mysterious man. He was running well now, and limping scarcely at all. Either he had feigned it before, or had, in the meanwhile, recovered from his injury.
The two girls watched the chase until a depression in the fields hid the three from sight.
"We'd better go back," suggested Ruth, after a bit.
"Yes," agreed Alice, "but we won't tell the others what has happened."
As it turned out, however, the girls were not able to carry out this intention. For Mr. Pertell had a new idea in regard to some of the scenes, and wanted to consult with Russ about it.
"Where is he?" the manager asked, coming from the farmhouse with a bundle of papers in his hand, after having called a rest period in the barn-burning rehearsals.
"He's after—that man," replied Alice, hesitatingly, and then she told what had happened.
"That man again!" cried Sandy Apgar, who overheard what was said. "He'll not get away this time. I'm goin' after him on a hoss!"
