And there, sure enough, the fifteenth verse stood out, marked clearly in black lines.

Robert read the verse over slowly, thoughtfully, and then looked up with a smile. “So, it seems I have a higher boss than old Hodge, haven’t I?” he said thoughtfully. “One that comes first. Well, if I can show myself approved unto God, I guess old Hodge oughtta be satisfied. How about it?”

“Sure thing, Bob,” said Alan, pulling his sweater off and flinging it across a chair.

“But say! What does this last line mean? ‘Rightly dividing the word of truth’?”

“Oh, that means understanding how to take the Bible, which thing was written to the Jews, to the Gentiles, and to the church. Dispensations and covenants and all that. It makes a lot clearer what it all means, you know. We have Scofield’s little book to read, you know. There’s an extra copy around here, somewhere. Yes, here it is. You can take it with you, and that’ll explain. It’s only a pamphlet, so it won’t take much room, and it clears up things a lot. And by the way, here’s our course of study. I promised Sherry I’d give it to you. Stick it in the book. We want you to keep up with us, and we’ll send you the exams when they come in, and then we can all be getting a line on the same things, see?”

Bob accepted the book and papers eagerly and would have sat down to examine them, then and there, but Alan reminded him that it was almost four o’clock, and he had less than four hours to sleep before his journey.

“That’s all right, Mac,” said the boy, “I’ll have plenty of time on board the ship. However, you need your sleep, too. I’ll turn in now.”

Morning came all too soon for the two young sleepers, but, nevertheless, they were alert early.

“Say, kid, you’re some beaut!” announced Bob rubbing the sleep out of his eyes and gazing at the other boy. “Boy! You look as if you’d been in a fight for sure.”

“Well, I don’t want any worse one,” laughed Alan. Then suddenly sobering, he sprang out of bed wildly.

“Great cats!” he exclaimed. “I never looked to see if I brought home those papers last night.”

He dashed wildly toward his coat, which hung in the closet, and fumbled in first one pocket and then another, finally bringing out a bundle of official-looking documents, fastened together with rubber bands.

“Well, I’ll be jiggered! Here they are!” he exclaimed, his face breaking into joy. “Now whaddaya think of that? Brought ‘em home after all, and didn’t remember a thing about it. Boy! I’m glad! Now the next thing is, is that agreement among ‘em, or did that poor fish get away with it?”

“What are you talking about?” asked Bob looking over his shoulder at the sheaf of papers. “Was there something in that safe somebody wanted? Have you any idea who that burglar was?”

“Well, not exactly, but there is a man trying to put something over on Dad, and I just reckoned he might be hunting some papers or something. I don’t know for sure, because I can’t ask Dad till he gets better. I’ve got to figure it out for myself. But I’d give two cents, right now, if I could go have a look into that fellow’s face before he cleared out. I don’t suppose we’ll ever get a line on him.”

“H’m!” said Bob thoughtfully. “Wish I were staying a day or two. I’d like to help you search it out.”

“Here’s an agreement,” said Alan thoughtfully.