In another moment there came a whispered, “Hello, Johnny,” and Pant appeared.

“You work for this circus?” Johnny asked.

“No. You?”

“Yes, got a job to-day.”

“What?”

“Horses.”

“Good. That puts you inside. You can help me, Johnny—help me a lot, and believe me, kid, it’s big—the biggest thing we ever worked on.” Pant’s words came quick and tense.

“What is it?”

“Can’t tell you now, but you can help. Here, take these three Liberty Bonds. They’re good ones. You take ’em over town and sell ’em. Here’s a hundred iron men. You buy me five more bonds from these circus men, see? Any of ’em. You’re inside, see? You can do it. Buy five. They’ve got ’em. They’ll sell ’em, too.”

“I call that light business, dealing in Liberty Bonds on a small margin,” grumbled Johnny. “What shall I pay?”

“Thirty-nine.”

“Nobody but a crazy man would sell ’em for that.”

“Mebbe not, Johnny, but they’ll sell ’em. Pay more, if you have to. The game’s a big one, I tell you. So long.” Pant vanished into the night.

CHAPTER V STRANGE DOINGS IN THE NIGHT

The following day Johnny carried out Pant’s wish in the matter of selling the three Liberty Bonds. When it came to picking up other bonds at Pant’s excessively low price, he experienced greater difficulty than had Snowball. Indeed, in all his time off duty he secured only one bond.

“Guess I haven’t struck the right spot yet,” was his mental comment. “I’ll try again to-morrow.”

It was just as he was about to return to his dapple grays that he received a sudden shock. He had been idly glancing over the “Daily News” when a headline caught his eye:

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