"I don't believe it was any one after the mule," murmured Mr. Jenks, "but it certainly was some one—more likely some one after me."
The three made a hasty search among the trees, but the intruder had vanished, leaving no trace. They went out into the road, which the moon threw into bold relief along its white stretch, but there was no figure scurrying away.
"Whoever it was, is gone," spoke Tom. "You can go back to bed, Rad," for the colored man, of late, had been sleeping in a shack on the Swift premises.
"And I guess it's time for me to go, too," added Mr. Jenks. "I'll be here to-morrow night, Tom, and I hope your answer will be favorable."
Tom did not sleep well the remainder of the night, for his fitful slumbers were disturbed by dreams of enormous caves, filled with diamonds, with dark, shadowy figures trying to put him into a red-hot steel box. Once he awakened with a start, and put his hand under his pillow to feel if the two stones Mr. Jenks had given him, were still there. They had not been disturbed.
Tom made up his mind to find out if the stones were really diamonds, before saying any thing to his father about the chance of going
