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Title: The Golden Boys and Their New Electric Cell

Author: L. P. Wyman

Release Date: July 12, 2013 [EBook #43197]

Language: English

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Transcriber's Note:

  Inconsistent hyphenation and spelling in the original document have
  been preserved. Obvious typographical errors have been corrected.

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  [Illustration: Foot by foot the Sprite crept up to the Winner till the
   two boats were racing side by side.

   (_The Golden Boys and Their New Electric Cell_) _Page 35_]




     THE GOLDEN BOYS
     AND THEIR
     NEW ELECTRIC CELL

     BY L. P. WYMAN, PH.D.
     Dean of Pennsylvania Military College

     AUTHOR OF

     "_The Golden Boys at the Fortress_," "_The Golden Boys
     in the Maine Woods_," "_The Golden Boys with the
     Lumber Jacks_," "_The Golden Boys on the
     River Drive_."

     A. L. BURT COMPANY
     Publishers      New York




     THE
     GOLDEN BOYS SERIES


A Series of Stories for Boys 12 to 16 Years of Age

BY L. P. WYMAN, PH.D.

Dean of the Pennsylvania Military College

     The Golden Boys and Their New Electric Cell
     The Golden Boys at the Fortress
     The Golden Boys in the Maine Woods
     The Golden Boys With the Lumber Jacks
     The Golden Boys on the River Drive

     Copyright, 1922
     By A. L. BURT COMPANY




THE GOLDEN BOYS AND THEIR NEW ELECTRIC CELL

Made in "U. S. A."




THE GOLDEN BOYS AND THEIR NEW ELECTRIC CELL




CHAPTER I.

THE NEW CELL.


"Say, Jack, do you have any idea that this thing is going to work?"

"I don't know, Bob, the theory is all right, but how it will work out
in practice is a cat of another color; one thing is sure, though, and
that is if it don't work we are out of the running in the race, for
the new boat the Jenkins boys have just bought, will run circles round
the Sprite."

"Well, we'll soon know, for it's about ready to test."

This conversation took place one afternoon in the latter part of July
in the basement of a house in Skowhegan, Maine. The room was fitted up
as a combined workshop and laboratory, and a single glance would
indicate that the two boys were by no means novices, for it contained
many expensive and intricate pieces of machinery.

Jack and Bob Golden, 15 and 17 years old respectively, were sons of a
rich manufacturer, who had made a large part of his fortune through
his own inventions. Mr. Golden was an indulgent father and seeing that
his inventive genius had descended to his sons, had fitted up a modern
machine shop and laboratory for them and had supplied them liberally
with money for experiments. He had by no means been disappointed in
the results, for although they were but boys, they had already worked
out several designs, which had been patented and had proved very
successful.

Mr. Golden was proud of his boys and with good reason. They were large
for their age, Bob standing 5 feet 10 inches in his stockings and Jack
being but two inches shorter. They were fine, manly, looking fellows,
and their clean-cut open faces told that they were generous to a fault
and were boys to be trusted.

The rest of the family consisted of Mrs. Golden, a small lovable
woman, and a daughter Edna, 14 years old, who was almost worshipped by
her big brothers. Altogether they were as happy and jolly a family as
one would find in a long journey.

Through the center of the town ran the Kennebec river, and six miles
to the north lay a beautiful sheet of water, five miles long by two
wide, known as Hayden Lake. Here the boys kept their motorboat, and as
Mr. Golden had a large cottage on the shore of the lake, the family
spent the greater part of the summer there. The shores of the lake
were dotted with cottages, and probably thirty or more motor boats
were owned by the people who made the place their summer home. During
each summer many races were held, and proud indeed was the boy or man
who secured the blue ribbon given to the winner of the final race held
the first week in August.

"I say, Jack," shouted Bob from the farther side of the room where he
was closely watching a piece of electrical apparatus, "shut down the
dynamo, will you? I want to look at these cells and see how they are
coming. We ought to have about enough in the first one."

"Right you are, son!" replied Jack as he turned a lever, and as the
hum, which had filled the room ceased, he added, "There you are."

Bending over a glass tank, which was about 12 inches square by 8 deep,
and nearly filled with dilute sulphuric acid, Bob disconnected two
wires and reaching in his hand, lifted out a cylinder of metal about 6
inches long and 11/2 inches thick.

"Hurrah," he shouted, "she's almost full. Now in about a minute we'll
know whether or not we've wasted our time during the last week. Have
you got those caps all ready and is the motor in trim?"

"Sure thing," replied Jack. "But say, Bob, I'm mighty nervous; suppose
it don't work."

"Well," said Bob slowly, "it won't be the first time we've had to try
again. If there is any trouble I feel sure it's in the caps, for this
manganese dioxide was made by the electric current, and if the caps
make it decompose into manganese and oxygen, the same amount of
electricity will be produced as was used in making it. It's the same
principle as the regular storage battery, only we are going to do
without the plates and sulphuric acid."

"That's all right," said impatient Jack, "but hurry up and hitch it on
and let's get the anxiety over with."

While talking, Bob had screwed on to each end of the cylinder a metal
cap which had attached to its middle an insulated wire. He now laid
the cylinder on a table and fastened each of the wires to a terminal
of a small, but powerful electric motor.

"All right now, switch her on and let's see her hum."

Instantly Jack threw over the lever, but, alas for the hopes of the
boys, nothing resulted. As they looked at each other keen
disappointment was evident on both faces. Almost instantly, however,
Jack grabbed his brother by the arm and almost shouted.

"Well, if I'm not the original clumsy Claude."

"What is it? Tell me quick."

"Why, don't you see? I gave you two positive caps instead of a
positive and negative."

Bob quickly picked up the cylinder, and a glance told him that his
brother was right. Quickly unscrewing one cap he replaced it with a
similar appearing one, but which was marked -- instead of +.

"Now we're off again, switch her on," and this time, to their intense
delight, no sooner was the switch thrown than the little motor sprang
to life, and the armature began to revolve with a whirl which seemed
to shout success to the two boys. Catching hold of each other's hands
they danced about the room fairly shouting their joy.

"For mercy sakes, what is this, a new kind of a war dance?" asked a
mild voice, and stopping just at the beginning of a wild yell, the
boys saw that their father had entered the room.

"Oh, dad," cried both boys, running to him and catching him by the
arms. "It works, it works. Just see it go."

"Well, well, so it does, so it does," said Mr. Golden eagerly. "Boys,
I certainly congratulate you; you have done a big thing and if it
works as well as it seems to be doing, it will be one of the greatest
inventions of the day."

"Now," said Jack, "we must see how long it will--hold on a minute,"
and to their amazement he rushed to the back door flung it open and
dashed across the yard. He was gone fully five minutes and when he
returned was panting for all he was worth.

"Didn't you see him?" he demanded.

"See who?" asked Bob.

"Why, sure as I live, Fred Jenkins was looking in that window. He lit
out, though, and got away before I could get out."

"What do you suppose he wanted?" asked Mr. Golden.

"Well, I'll tell you, dad," replied Bob. "Ever since we came down from
the lake Fred and Will Jenkins have been trying to find out what we've
been doing. You know they almost got us on that new vibrator we
invented, owing to our carelessness in leaving it on the table one day
when they came in."

"Yes," broke in Jack, "and they are just mean enough to sneak round
and try to steal our new storage cell."

"We've got to be mighty careful this time," continued Bob, "and not
let one of those caps get into their hands, for the secret of the
whole thing is in them, as it is the action of the different metals
composing them which starts the manganese dioxide to decomposing and
converts its chemical energy into electricity."

"Well, come on boys," said Mr. Golden as soon as Bob had finished.
"Your mother sent me down to tell you to come to supper, and we
mustn't be late, as she has company."

"All right," was Bob's reply. "Just let me connect the motor with
this clock. You see," he explained, "I have it arranged so that when
it stops the clock will stop also and we can tell how long it has
run."

Several times that evening the boys ran down to the basement to see if
the motor was still going, and as it was humming merrily at 10:30,
they decided to go to bed and trust to the clock to tell them when it
stopped.

Early the next morning they rushed to the laboratory before they were
half dressed, to find the motor silent and the hands of the clock
pointing to 4:35.

"Whoop," shouted Jack, as he caught sight of the face of the clock,
"that's almost twelve hours, just think of it Bob. One of those
cylinders will run the Sprite ten or twelve hours, and it wasn't full
either."

"It's sure great," returned Bob with no less enthusiasm. "I guess
we'll show the Jenkins some sailing now."

"That's what we will," agreed Jack. "Now we must get busy and fill
some more of those cylinders."




CHAPTER II.

JACK TAKES A BATH.


"Come there, I say, are you going to sleep all day?"

Jack Golden was just dreaming that he had run the Sprite into a big
rock and was much relieved to find that the resulting thump was
nothing more serious than the bang of a pillow thrown at his head by
his brother.

"Hey, cut that out," he mumbled, but half awake. "What time is it,
anyway?"

"Time you were up and dressed," was Bob's answer. "Today is Wednesday,
and the race is Saturday, and, take it from me, we have a lot of work
cut out for us before then if we are going to get the Sprite ready."

"I guess that's right, all right," was the sleepy answer. "If we're
going to get that new motor installed in the Sprite, we sure have got
to hustle. I'll be dressed in less than half a shake."

It was not yet 5 o'clock, but the Golden boys were early risers,
especially when they had work to do.

Quickly dressing, they rushed down to the laboratory where they found
old Mike busily engaged sweeping up the dirt they had made the day
before. Mike McGinty was an Irishman and was very proud of that fact.
It was his boast that "Ivery bone in my body is pure Irish, and don't
you fergit it, young feller." He was about 40 years old, and for the
last twenty years had been man-of-all-work for the Goldens. He was
very quick witted, good natured, had a decided mechanical turn, and
his "byes," as he called Bob and Jack, were "the finest iver," and woe
betide the person who said anything against them in his hearing. A
good part of his time was spent helping the boys in the laboratory,
and he was so careful and trustworthy that they found his help almost
indispensable.

While waiting to be called to breakfast, the boys packed up what tools
and material they would need, for as soon as possible they intended to
start for the lake and put a new twenty horsepower electric motor in
the Sprite. Jack had just put the last tool in place when the
breakfast bell rang.

As soon as the meal was finished, Bob said: "Jack, you run over to the
garage and bring round the big car and Mike and I will get the stuff
up from the lab."

"Bejabers and do yees think ye're agoing to take all that truck in the
car?"

"Sure, Mike, there's lots of room in the back. Here's Jack now. Easy
now with that motor and don't for mercy's sake, drop it. If we break
it there'll be no time to get it fixed."

In addition to the tools and motor they were taking a lot of cooked
stuff, for they did not intend to come down till they had finished,
and as the family were not at the lake just then, there was no one to
cook for them, and the boys did not want to take the time, although
they could cook when necessary.

Soon all was packed in the rear of the car and saying goodbye to the
folks, who had come to see them off, they started with Bob at the
wheel, Jack beside him, while Mike sandwiched himself in the back
seat.

It was a run of about ten miles to the cottage, as it was at the
extreme upper end of the lake, but Bob was a fast driver, and in about
thirty minutes their destination hove in sight.

"Well, byes, here we are, right side up wid care, bejabers," shouted
Mike, tumbling out of the machine as it came to a stop. "Sure and I
thought I'd break ivery blessed Irish bone in me body bumping round
wid all that truck."

"I guess Irish bones must be pretty strong," laughed Jack, as he
unlocked the door of the boathouse.

It was but a few minutes' work to unload, and soon all three were in
the boathouse busily engaged taking the old engine out of the Sprite
and so rapidly did they work, stopping only for a cold bite at noon,
that by 6 o'clock it was all apart and out of the boat.

"Now, Jack, while Mike and I are packing this stuff away suppose you
take the canoe and see if you can get a few perch for supper,"
proposed Bob. "You will find some worms in that pail in the corner."

"Right you are, son, perch is my middle name," replied Jack, and in
almost less time than it takes to tell it, he had the little canoe in
the water and was paddling across toward a little cove, the best
fishing ground on the lake.

"Guess I'll try trolling first," he said to himself, and baiting a
hook, he let out about forty feet of line and began rowing at a rate
just sufficient to keep the canoe in motion. The fish bit well, and in
less than a half hour he had a dozen fine perch flopping about in the
bottom of the boat.

"No use in catching more than we can use," he thought, as he reeled in
his line and started for the other shore. Hardly had he taken up the
oars however, when, looking up, he saw a new motorboat coming rapidly
up the pond, and only a short distance away. "That's the Jenkins boys
in their new boat, the Winner, and she sure is some boat," thought
Jack.

"Hello there, sonny, how they biting?" shouted Will Jenkins, as soon
as they were within hearing distance.

"Fair," replied Jack as shortly as possible, for he did not relish
being called "sonny" by them.

"Say," shouted Fred Jenkins, "are you going to enter the Sprite in the
race Saturday?"

"Mebbe."

"Well, it won't be any use; we can run circles round your old tub with
this boat."

"She certainly does look fast," replied Jack.

"Fast? She's a streak, and look at her name--that's no lie."

While talking the Jenkins boys had shut down their engine, and the two
boats were only about thirty feet apart.

"Well, so long, we'll see you Saturday, if you can manage to keep in
sight," taunted Fred, as he threw over the fly wheel of his engine.

The Winner started off at a good speed straight for the canoe.
Probably Fred did not intend to run Jack down, but he evidently
purposed to come as close as possible without hitting and give him a
good scare. But just as he was going to turn to avoid hitting the
canoe, something went wrong with the tiller and the next moment Jack
was in the water. He could swim like a fish and shaking the water out
of his eyes he struck out for the canoe which was floating bottom up a
few feet away.

"You clumsy Claudes," he shouted as he caught hold of the canoe.
"Isn't the lake big enough for you to turn your old scow in?" Jack was
mad clear through, for it had looked to him as though Fred had hit him
intentionally. Fortunately, the canoe was so light, that it was not
stove in, and he had little trouble in righting it and climbing in.
Meanwhile, the Winner had come about.

"Say, Jack, I didn't mean to hit you; my tiller rope stuck and I
couldn't turn her," said Fred. "Are you all right?"

"I guess so, but the next time you want to give me a wider berth or
I'll be tempted to put a head on you."

"Ho, ho, hear the young bantam! Suppose you learn how to spell able."

Jack said nothing more but paddled about and managed to pick up all
but two or three of his fish, while the Winner headed down the lake
and was soon lost to sight round the bend.

"Just the same I don't believe he tried very hard not to hit me,"
muttered Jack as he headed the canoe toward the cottage.

He found that Bob and Mike had just finished packing away the old
engine and told them what had happened.

"Begorra," said Mike, "that was a mean trick. If I had them two young
saplin's in me hands I'd rap their two heads together, so I would."

"Well," said Bob, "perhaps it was as Fred said and only an accident,
but he ought to be taught to be more careful. However no great harm is
done and now let's go up to the house and get some supper; I'm hungry
enough to eat those fish raw."

Supper over and the dishes washed, it was nearly 9 o'clock, and the
boys decided that they would go to bed and be up bright and early in
the morning.

It seemed to Bob that he had hardly touched the pillow when some one
began to shake him and opening his sleepy eyes he saw Mike standing by
his bed, holding a lantern in his hand.

"Jump up and dress quick," he said, "some one is trying to get in to
the boathouse. I was smoking a last pipe by the window and saw him
sneaking round."

By this time Jack also was awake and in less than a minute they were
out of bed and had pulled on trousers and shoes.

"Now, Mike, you slip down by the shore, and Jack and I will go round
through the woods. Go easy now, for I want to find out who it is."

The boathouse was about 100 feet from the cottage, and the boys crept
quickly through the trees, which were not very dense. It was a bright
moon-light night, and as they emerged from the woods and were within
about twenty feet of the boathouse, they saw two boys close to the
house, evidently trying to get a window open.

"Come on now," whispered Bob, "let's make a rush for them."

Springing from the bushes the two boys darted toward the boathouse,
and before the intruders could recover from their surprise, they were
grabbed and thrown to the ground. It is not to be supposed that they
gave in without a struggle, and for a few moments the fight waged fast
and furious. But the Golden boys were strong and the fight was over by
the time Mike showed up.

"Ah, I thought so," muttered Bob, as he turned his captive over. "What
are you doing here this time of night, Will Jenkins?"

"You let me up," was the dogged reply. "Can't a fellow take a walk
without being jumped on?"

"Yes," replied Bob, "but you can't get into our boathouse in the
middle of the night, not if we see you first."

"Aw, we weren't trying to get into your old shack. We were only
walking by and happened to look in," was the sullen answer.

"I don't believe a word of it," said Jack, letting up his captive, who
proved to be Fred Jenkins. "They were trying to get in to find out
what we have been doing."

"Now see here," said Bob, letting his captive up, "you hike out of
here and what's more you keep away, see?"

"Yis and begorry," broke in Mike, "if I catch yees sneaking round
here again sure and it's meself that'll be timpted to throw yees into
the drink."

Muttering something about getting even, the two crestfallen boys slunk
away.

"Now you byes go up to the house and go to bed," ordered Mike. "I'm
agoing to sleep in the boathouse, and if them fellers come back here
they'll think the auld bye hisself is after them."

"All right," agreed Bob, "I guess that will be the best plan. Come on,
Jack, it is nearly 1 o'clock, and we have a big day's work ahead for
tomorrow."




CHAPTER III.

THE STOLEN CAP.


"Say, Bob how fast do you suppose that new boat of the Jenkins boys
will go?"

"I don't know, but she is sure some speeder and I tell you what,
sonny, the Sprite has got to cut through the wet a whole lot faster
than she ever did before if we are going to hang on to that blue
ribbon."

It was late Friday afternoon, and Mike and the boys had just finished
putting in the new motor.

"Jack," continued Bob, "you run up to the house and get those end
caps, will you, while Mike and I run the boat out? Just as soon as it
gets a little dark I want to give her a try-out."

Jack rushed off to the house while Mike swung open the big doors, and
in a few moments the Sprite was floating at the pier. Just then Jack
came running wildly down the path leading from the house, and as soon
as he reached the wharf asked eagerly:

"Didn't you say you left those caps in the table drawer in the
bedroom?"

"Yes, why, didn't you find them?"

"No, they are not there."

"But they must be. I saw them there this morning," insisted Bob.

"Well they might have been there then, but they aren't there now, that
is, not unless I've lost my eyesight, and I seem to see you fairly
well," replied Jack grimly.

"O pshaw, you probably overlooked them. Come on back to the house and
I'll show you where they are," said Bob starting for the house on a
run.

"All right," answered Jack, close at his heels, "I'm from Missouri all
right."

In a moment the boys, with Mike bringing up the rear, reached the
bedroom and as Bob yanked open the drawer, he said, "Some people never
can find anything." But the next moment he started back in dismay, for
although he had taken everything out of the drawer, the caps were not
there.

"Well that's mighty funny," he muttered. "I declare I saw those caps
there this morning."

"Who's loony now?" jeered Jack, as he saw the look of dismay on his
brother's face.

But the caps were gone and a thorough search of the room, and the
entire house as well, failed to disclose them.

"Well, begorra, one thing is certain sure," declared Mike, "them ere
caps didn't walk out 'o here all by their lonesome. Somebody sure
swiped 'em."

Just then a loud cry of "Bob, Mike, come out here quick," brought them
running down the stairs to the back door, where they found Jack on his
hands and knees in the path which led to the woods back of the house.

"Say, did either of you go out here since dinner?"

"No," both replied.

"Well then," continued Jack, "you know we had a hard shower just after
dinner and these tracks were surely made since then."

"By Jove, that's so," affirmed Bob, examining the tracks carefully.
"And look here, these tracks were made by some one wearing sneakers.
Now who wears sneakers round here?"

"Why," replied Jack, "Fred and Will Jenkins most always wear them when
they are up here."

"That's so, and I'll bet a fishhook that one of them sneaked in here
while we were at the boathouse," said Bob. "You remember, don't you
Jack, that you saw one of them at the window of the lab when we were
trying them? They must have suspected then that we were up to
something, and then the fact that we have been hard at work here ever
since would make them feel sure that we were doing something to the
Sprite."

"Begorra, and I'm jist agoing to go down to their place and make 'em
hand 'em over," almost shouted Mike.

"No, no, that won't do," said Bob. "You see, we have no positive
proof that they took them, and of course they would deny it."

"But, Bob," spoke up Jack. "We've just got to get those caps back.
They can get them analyzed and find out how they are made and then our
secret is up the flue, because most anyone who knows anything about
storage batteries would know that we use either manganese or lead
dioxide in the cylinder, and besides we haven't time to make any more
before the race."

"You're right there, son. Now just let me think a minute," said Bob,
and then a moment later, "I'm going to try it. It's the only way and
it may work."

"What may work?" asked Jack.

"Never mind just now, but I'm going to get those caps back if they
haven't thrown them into the lake or break a tug trying."

That night about 8.30, Bob, dressed in a dark suit and wearing
sneakers, stole down to the boathouse, and getting into the little
canoe, started paddling down the lake. The Jenkins cottage was about
three miles from the head of the lake, on the east shore. It stood in
a thick grove of cedars, about forty feet from the shore.

Reaching a place, about a quarter of a mile from the cottage, just
inside a point of land reaching out into the lake, Bob drew his canoe
from the water and hid it in a little clump of bushes near the water's
edge. Circling around away from the lake he approached the house from
the rear. As he got within a few paces of the cottage, a dog began to
bark and Bob shuddered as he knew that they kept a large collie which
had a reputation of being very savage.

"He's coming this way sure as guns," thought Bob, as he heard the
animal creeping through the bushes. Picking up a stone about as large
as his fist, which he felt under his feet, he crept back behind a
tree, hoping that the dog would not follow. But this hope was not
realized, for the keen-nosed animal had scented him, and with a low
growl was approaching. Holding the stone tightly Bob waited for the
attack which he saw was inevitable. Just then the moon came out from
behind a cloud and by its light, he saw the brute almost upon him and
about to spring. Drawing back his arm he let fly the rock. Bob had
pitched on the Skowhegan high school team for two years, and his
practice now stood him in good stead, for the stone flew true to the
mark and hit the dog right between the eyes. With a single loud yelp
he went down, gave a kick or two and was still.

"By Gum, I believe I've killed him," said Bob to himself. "Well, it
was either he or I and I'm mighty glad it wasn't I."

Just then some one shouted from the house: "Here, Brave, come here,
where are you?"

Bob recognized Fred Jenkins' voice and then he heard two persons
coming toward him. Quickly he grabbed hold of the dead animal and
dragged it into some thick bushes. Hardly had he done this and dodged
back behind the tree, when he heard Fred and Will Jenkins within a few
feet of where he was standing.

"Where do you suppose that dog went to?" he heard Fred say.

"I don't know, but I guess likely he heard a rabbit or something and
has gone on a chase after it," replied Will, adding a moment later,
"Let's go back to the house. If he's on a rabbit trail we won't see
him till morning."

"No, I guess you won't," chuckled Bob as, much relieved, he heard them
making their way back through the bushes. He waited till he thought
they had had time to get back, then carefully creeping on his hands
and knees he slowly approached the house.

The front porch, as he knew, was built up from the ground, being faced
with lattice work, while both ends were open. Carefully creeping
closer, he slipped through the open end of the porch and stretched
himself at full length on the ground. To his great disappointment he
heard nothing for some time and was about to crawl out when he heard a
door bang over his head, and the creaking of chairs told him that the
boys had come out on the porch. To his delight he found that he could
hear perfectly all that was said. For some time they talked about
things of no interest to our hero, and he was getting pretty badly
cramped from lying so long in one position, for he did not dare move,
but just then he heard Will Jenkins say:

"Fred, when are you going to take those caps down to the city and have
them analyzed?"

"Oh, some time the first of the week," was the reply, then he added,
"If it wasn't for the race I'd take them down tomorrow."

"Oh, well, I guess next week will do just as well, but I want it done
as soon as possible," he heard Will say; then after a short pause he
added: "I suppose those two swell heads will make a big howl, but they
can't prove anything, and we have sure put them out of the race
tomorrow."

"Perhaps we can't prove it," thought Bob, "but here's betting that we
come pretty near it."

"Oh, by the way, where did you put them?" asked Fred a moment later to
Bob's delight.

"I've got 'em safe," was the reply, "in my coat pocket, in the closet
in our room."

"All right, you lock up and I'll go down to the spring and get a pail
of water."

Bob heard them go into the house and in a moment one came out and
started for the spring, a little to one side of the house, while he
could hear the other going about locking the windows. Soon the one
with the water returned and in a short time all was quiet. Bob waited
a little longer and then carefully crept out and sat down behind some
bushes a few feet away.

"I'll wait an hour," he thought as he looked at his watch and saw that
it was a few minutes past 10 o'clock.

It was hard work to keep awake and the time passed very slowly, but at
last the watch told him that the hour was up. Going to the back of the
house, he carefully examined the windows and finally found one that he
thought he could unlock.

"Well," he thought, "I never supposed that I would turn burglar, but
I'm going to have one big try for those caps, so here goes."

With a strong knife blade he managed to push back the catch, and
quietly raised the window. Slowly and noiselessly he crept through and
flashing his electric torch about, advanced to the front of the house.
Although he had been there several times before, he had never been
upstairs and did not know in what room the boys slept. His heart was
beating so that he was almost afraid that some one would hear it, as
he was beginning to realize that he was engaged in a very serious and
dangerous undertaking. He did not know for sure whether or not the two
boys were alone in the house, but as he had heard no one else on the
porch he thought it probable that the rest of the family was at their
home in Skowhegan.

Very carefully he crept up the stairs and a flash of the torch showed
him that four rooms opened from the hall. He stood still a moment and
listened. The sound of deep breathing in one of the front rooms soon
told him which was occupied and stepping to the door a flash showed
him two forms in the bed.

"This is the room," he thought, "and that must be the closet, by the
head of the bed. It sure couldn't be in a worse place. Wonder if I can
get the door open without waking them?"

Like a cat he crept across the room and fumbled with his hand till he
found the knob. The door squeaked slightly as he pulled it open, and
one of the sleepers stirred and mumbled something about an electric
boat. Bob's heart seemed to come almost into his throat, but in a
minute the regular breathing of the sleeper reassured him and he edged
into the closet. There were quite a lot of clothes hanging there, but
he had not searched far when he felt something hard in one of the
pockets, and the next instant he had transferred the precious caps to
his own pocket.

"Now for a quick get-away," he muttered. But it seemed that Bob's good
luck was to end right there, for as he stepped out of the closet his
foot caught in something on the floor, and he fell forward into the
room with a crash that fairly shook the house.




CHAPTER IV.

THE TRY-OUT.


"Oh, Mr. Burglar, please don't hurt me."

This was what Bob heard as he picked himself up from the floor. The
room was pitch dark, but it was evident that both the boys in the bed
had been awakened by the noise and that they were also in a state of
terror. Taking advantage of their panic, Bob quickly found his way to
the hall and flashing his light, ran down the stairs and out the front
door. Just as he stepped from the porch a revolver shot rang out from
an upper window.

"Guess they got up enough spunk to get out of bed," chuckled Bob, as
he crouched behind a convenient bush, and he could not resist the
temptation to sing out, "Next time you steal anything you better not
talk so loudly about where you hide it."

"I'll have you arrested for burglary, Bob Golden," came in angry tones
from the window.

"All right, go ahead," replied Bob, "but I guess you'll have a fine
time explaining how my property came to be in your coat pocket."

He waited to hear no more, but making his way as quickly as possible
to where he had left the canoe, he lost no time in getting it into the
water. Jumping in he bent to the paddle with all his strength and in
about a half hour rounded the point, just behind which was the
boathouse. He found Jack and Mike waiting for him on the porch.

"Gee, I thought you'd never come," said Jack. "Did you get them?"

"I did that," chuckled Bob, getting out of the canoe, and then of
course he had to tell them all about it.

"Smart bye," said Mike, when he had finished, "Sure and you'd make one
peach of a burglar."

"Perhaps," said Bob, "but I don't fancy the part, it's bad for the
nerves. Now," he continued, "it's about 2 o'clock and we must get some
sleep for I want to be up by daybreak and give the Sprite a tryout
before any one is about."

"Well I guess I will stay up till you wake," proposed Mike, "in case
they try to get those caps back."

"Perhaps that would be the best plan," agreed Bob, "I don't believe
they would have the nerve to try to get into the house, but they might
try to break into the boathouse to injure the Sprite. It'll only be
about three hours, for I want you to call us at 5 o'clock sharp."

It seemed to the boys that they had hardly fallen asleep when they
heard Mike pounding on the door. "All right," shouted Bob, "we'll be
right down."

Day was just breaking as they came out of the house. It took but a
short time to get the Sprite into the lake, slip the cylinder in place
and adjust the caps.

"Now," said Jack eagerly, "for the first trip with electricity."

It was surely an anxious moment to the boys, for if anything was
wrong, there was but little time for adjustment.

"Push her off, Mike, and then jump in," ordered Bob.

Running the boat out to the end of the wharf, Mike gave her a push,
jumping in as he did so, and a second later the Sprite was floating
about twenty feet from the shore. Bob at once turned on the juice, as
he expressed it, and to their delight the propeller began to beat the
water.

"Hurrah!" shouted both Jack and Mike, "She's going."

"Yes, she's going," repeated Bob, heading her down the lake. "Now to
see if she will make any kind of time."

Slowly he pushed the switch over notch by notch, and faster and faster
the Sprite cut through the water, till Jack declared that they were
going fully as fast as they ever went with the old engine. "Have you
got on full power?" he asked eagerly.

"No," replied Bob, "only about half. But don't it seem funny not to
hear her puff?"

"It sure does," assented Jack, "but push her over and let's see how
fast she can go."

Faster and faster the boat cut through the water till it seemed to the
boys that they were almost flying.

"Jiminy-jumped-up!" ejaculated Mike, speaking for the first time, "but
ye'll get a hot box if ye don't slow her down."

"No danger of that," laughed Bob, "but we're going fifteen miles an
hour if we're going an inch, and the best of it is she seems to be
running in perfect order."

They sailed about the lake for about an hour and expressed themselves
as being well satisfied with the results and confident that they would
be able to keep the coveted blue ribbon. As Jack expressed it, "The
Winner would have to go a good deal faster that afternoon than she
ever had before to justify her name."

"Well, I guess we'd better go back now and get some eats," proposed
Bob.

"Second the motion," shouted Jack, "I'm hungry enough to eat almost
anything."

On the west shore of the lake, about half way down, was a grove where
were a hotel, a summer theater and other places of amusement. Past the
lake, about a quarter of a mile distant, ran a trolley line, about
ten miles long, connecting the towns of Skowhegan and Madis. A spur
track ran down to the lake almost to its edge.

The starting point for the race was directly in front of the hotel,
while the course was marked out by buoys and ran down the lake on the
east side, up on the west side nearly to the head, then down to the
starting point, making a course of about twelve miles.

By 2.30 o'clock a large crowd of people had collected in the grove,
for the great race was scheduled to start at 3.00, and promptly on
time ten motor boats lined up ready for the starter's shot.

Besides the Sprite and the Winner, there were the Eagle, a fast little
sixteen-footer, carrying a ten horsepower, two-cylinder engine; the
Chum, twenty feet long with fifteen horsepower, and the Rocket,
eighteen feet long, equipped with an engine of fourteen horsepower.
The other five boats I will not attempt to describe, as they did not
figure prominently in the race.

The Sprite was stationed farthest from the shore, then came the
Winner, Eagle, Chum and Rocket in the order named.

Many ugly glances did the owners of the Winner cast at the Sprite and
its crew as they took their places, but no words passed between them
till just before the start, when in a sneering tone, Fred Jenkins
said, "Bet you a hundred dollars we beat you."

"We don't bet," replied Bob.

"Huh, afraid," sneered Will Jenkins. "Tell you what I'll do, I'll make
it a hundred dollars or any amount you like that we come in twenty
lengths ahead."

"Nothing doing," calmly replied Bob, and at that moment the starter's
voice rang out, "Are you all ready?"

"Aye, aye, sir," was the response.

"All right then, stand by," and a second later, crack, went his
revolver. Instantly nine fly wheels were turned over, but Bob sitting
in the bow of the Sprite turned the switch to the first notch.




CHAPTER V.

THE RACE.


"Hurrah; hurrah!" shouted the crowd, "They're off."

Down the lake swept the ten boats, the Winner taking the lead, closely
followed by the Eagle, then came the Chum, the Rocket and the Sprite,
the other boats bringing up the rear. By each buoy a boat was
stationed to see that there was no cutting of corners. The boats
passed the first buoy, about half a mile from the start, in the order
named, the Winner being then about fifty feet ahead of the Sprite.

"Say, Bob," asked Jack, "how much power you got on?"

"Only about two-thirds," replied Bob. "But I don't believe the Winner
is doing her best yet."

"Well don't let her get any farther ahead if you can help it," advised
Jack.

"I won't," replied Bob grimly. "I'm going to try to close up a little
now."

Throwing the switch over another notch, the boys were gratified to
find that they were creeping up on the Rocket, and by the time they
had passed the second buoy at the foot of the lake, they had passed
both the Rocket and the Chum, and only a half-length separated them
from the Eagle, while the Winner was only a length ahead of its
nearest rival.

"I'm going to keep her like this," whispered Bob, "unless they go
faster, and I think they are doing pretty near their best."

All the way up the east side of the lake the three leading boats kept
at about the same relative distance, while the rest of the fleet was
hopelessly out of the race. As they passed the last buoy, about a mile
from the end, Fred Jenkins turned and shouted, "Now we're going to
show you some speed."

The boys saw him turn his timer and almost immediately the Winner
began to forge ahead of the others.

"Look out, Bob," whispered excited Jack, "Don't let her get away from
you."

Bob's answer was to turn the switch another notch and in a very short
time the Sprite had passed the Eagle and only a length separated the
two leading boats.

"I've still got two more notches," whispered Bob, "and I think they're
doing their best, and we're gaining on them."

Foot by foot the Sprite crept up on the Winner till, when they were
about a half mile from the finish, the two boats were racing side by
side.

"Let her out another notch," urged Jack, and as Bob complied, Jack,
delighted to see that they were drawing away from the Winner, could
not keep from shouting, "Goodby, see you later." But only angry looks
answered him.

Just then they passed a small rowboat carrying a lady and two little
girls, and a moment later the two boys were startled to hear a wild
shriek. Turning they were just in time to see the Winner strike the
small boat a glancing blow. The blow was not hard enough to cause the
Winner to swerve from her course or to upset the boat, but it threw
the girls into a panic, and standing up in the boat, it almost
immediately capsized.

"Quick, reverse her," shouted Jack and forgetful of the race Bob
pushed back the switch and shot in the reverse, at the same time
turning the tiller wheel to its full limit. It took but a moment for
the boat to turn and start back full speed, while the Winner shot
past, her course unchanged.

"The miserable cowards," muttered Bob, "they aren't going to stop."

In almost less time than it takes to tell it, the Sprite was back by
the overturned boat. The woman was clinging to the end, but the two
girls were nowhere to be seen. Quickly shutting off the power, Bob
shouted: "Dive, Jack, dive." Over the side went Jack, followed a
second later by Bob. The water was about twenty feet deep and very
clear, and opening his eyes Bob saw something white about ten feet
away and a few strokes enabled him to grasp it. Kicking out lustily he
was soon above water, holding one of the little girls by the hair.
Glancing about he soon spied Jack with the other girl swimming toward
the Sprite, which had floated some distance away. However, it took
them but a short time to reach her, and they soon had the two girls in
the boat. They had not been in the water long, but both were
unconscious.

"Now, Jack, roll them on the bottom of the boat while I start her up
and get the woman."

Quickly she was pulled into the boat almost exhausted. "My girls, are
they dead?" she moaned.

"I don't think so," replied Bob, heading the Sprite full speed for the
wharf, about a quarter of a mile distant.

As the Sprite swung in toward the dock, she was greeted with a
tremendous cheer by the crowd, which had watched the rescue, and as
the boat struck, eager hands lifted the little girls, who had as yet
shown no signs of life, from the boat. It happened that two doctors
were present, and they at once set to work to bring back the lives so
nearly gone. In a few moments, to the joy of the crowd, one of them
began to show signs of life and a little later the other opened her
eyes. When told that they would live, the joy and enthusiasm of the
people knew no bounds, and Bob and Jack were nearly overwhelmed with
praise. Among the first to reach them were Mr. and Mrs. Golden.

"That was worth more, my boys, than winning all the races in the
world," was Mr. Golden's greeting, as he took them in his arms, while
the tears ran down the cheeks of their mother as she silently kissed
them.

"Where are those boys?" shouted a tall, broad-shouldered man as he
pushed his way through the crowd, and then, as he saw them, "That was
my wife and those were my little girls," and his eyes glistened as he
tried to thank them. The boys tried to tell him that it was nothing,
but he wouldn't have it so. It developed that he was a rich merchant
from Philadelphia, by name, Samuel Wright, who had that summer
purchased a cottage at the lake. Before he would let them go he had
made them promise that they would call on him the next day or Monday.

"Well, boys, I guess we had better be getting over to the 'Roost,'"
said Mr. Golden, as soon as they could get away from the crowd. "Your
mother has finished her canning and we are going to stay at the
cottage a few weeks."

As the boys stepped on the wharf, they were startled to see two men in
the Sprite. They were bending over the motor, but straightened up as
the boys approached.

"Fine boat you have here," said the older of the two, a man about
fifty years old, thick set and wearing a full beard. His companion was
about five years younger, of rather slight build and smooth face.

"Yes, she's pretty fair," returned Bob rather dryly, for he did not
like the looks of the two men and did not relish the idea of them
getting into the boat without permission. However, he did not want to
appear too churlish.

"Jack," said Bob, "you run up to the hotel and help bring down the
stuff while I clean up the boat, will you?" A wink told Jack that Bob
did not want to leave the boat alone, so he turned back to the hotel
while Bob, seizing the painter, pulled the Sprite up to the wharf. The
two men at once got out and, with an apology for their intrusion,
turned away.

In about ten minutes the Golden family, including Edna, appeared, well
laden with suit cases and bundles.

"Say, Bob," asked Mr. Golden, "do you think you can get us all over in
one load? May is going too," May Brown was Edna's chum, of about her
age and often spent several weeks at a time at the Golden cottage. She
was a very jolly girl, and the Goldens were always glad to have her
with them.

"Sure thing," replied Bob, "lots of room."

"Let's hurry then," said his mother, "I'm afraid you boys will catch
cold in those wet clothes."

"No danger of that," laughed Jack, "It isn't the first time we've been
wet, eh, Bob?"

Soon they were all aboard, bag and baggage and the Sprite's bow was
headed up the lake.

But what of the winners of the great race? As the Winner shot over the
finish line, not a cheer greeted her, and her owners, seeing only
hostile looks on the faces of the crowd, never stopped, but kept on
down the lake.

"Confound it," muttered Fred, "I guess we've botched things again."

"Well, it's all your fault," growled Will, "I told you to stop."

"I know you did, but I thought some of the other boats behind would be
near enough to pick them up, and I didn't want to lose the race."

"It seems, though, that we didn't exactly cover ourselves with glory
by winning," said Will grimly.

"I don't know why it is," argued Fred, "but it seems to me that those
Golden boys are always getting the better of us. I wonder why it is
that they are so much more popular than we? We have just as much
money, if not more, than they."

As is usually the case, these boys could not see that it was their
own selfish dispositions which was the cause of their unpopularity.

In a little over twenty minutes the Sprite was at the "Roost's"
boathouse, and soon the merry party had landed and carried the baggage
to the cottage. The boys, having put on dry clothing, proposed to the
girls that a game of tennis would be a good way to pass the time while
supper was being prepared, and soon Bob and May were contesting every
point with Jack and Edna.

That night, after the rest of the family had retired, the two boys sat
by the window, in their room, talking over the events of the day.

"Say, old man," Bob suddenly said, "I didn't like the looks of those
fellows we caught in the Sprite this afternoon. Sure as guns they were
trying to find out all they could about that motor. They didn't act
right when they saw us."

"Well, I guess you're right," returned Jack. "I think we had better
get that cell patented as soon as possible, before some one steals
it."

"No, I don't want to do that yet. I have had something in mind for
quite a while and I want to keep the construction of that cell a
secret for at least a year."

"What's your idea?"

"Well, you remember reading, a while ago, in the Boston paper, that a
prize of fifty thousand dollars had been offered to the first one to
fly across the Atlantic. The difficulty has been," he continued, as
Jack nodded assent, "that an airship can't carry enough gasoline, but
we could take enough of those cylinders to send an aeroplane around
the world."

"Gee, wouldn't that be great? Do you suppose father would let us try
it?"

"I don't know, but I mean to ask him and if he gives his consent we'll
have a try at it next summer. Now you see why I don't want to patent
the cell. If the secret is known, even if it is patented, some one
might get round it in some way and beat us."

"Great head you've got, old man, and we'll do it, take my word for it,
but I'm sleepy, so here goes for bed."

In a short time both boys were sound asleep, but if they had known of
the exciting events and dangers they were to pass through during the
next few days, it is doubtful if their dreams would have been as
pleasant.




CHAPTER VI.

SOME ONE ELSE TAKES A BATH.


The next day was Sunday, and the entire family, including Mike,
attended church in the village of East Madison, about a mile from the
cottage. The afternoon was spent in reading and talking, for the boys
never went on the lake Sunday, except in case of necessity. Soon after
breakfast the next day, Jack and Bob were sitting on the porch
discussing plans for the day, when they saw a rowboat, containing two
men, rounding the point. They watched them, with no particular
interest, till it was evident that they were making for their wharf,
then suddenly Jack declared, "They are the men who were in our boat
the other day."

"So they are," affirmed Bob, "Wonder what they want?"

"Guess we'll have to wait and see," advised Jack.

By this time the boat was within a few feet of the dock, and soon she
was tied and the men were approaching the house.

"Good morning, boys," said the older man, pleasantly, as they reached
the steps. "Good morning," replied both boys. "Won't you come up and
sit down?"

"Thanks," and both accepted the invitation. "We've come up to have a
little business talk," began the older man and without waiting for the
boys to speak, he continued, "My name is Robert King, and this,"
indicating his companion, "is William Reed. We are from Boston and are
spending a few days at the hotel down the lake. Now we want to buy a
motorboat, and seeing yours Saturday, we thought we might be able to
strike a bargain with you."

"Sorry, sir," broke in Bob, "but she is not for sale."

"That's too bad," said Mr. King, "for she is just what we want. Of
course," he continued, "we could get one like her, but it would take
several days and we don't want to wait, as our time is limited. Now
I'll tell you what we'll do. We are both rich men and money is no
object to us, so we get what we want, and we are willing to pay you
one thousand dollars for the boat."

This, as the boys knew, was considerable more than the Sprite was
worth, but Bob gave Jack a slight wink as he said:

"That's a very generous offer, and much more than the Sprite is worth,
but we don't wish to sell."

"Suppose we make it two thousand dollars," spoke up Mr. Reed.

"Nothing doing," replied Jack.

"Then you won't sell at any price?" asked King.

"No, not at any price," repeated Bob.

"Well, would you rent her to us for a few days?"

"Sorry, sir, but you see our vacation will be over in a short time,
and we want her to use every day," replied Bob.

"Very well, then, we'll bid you goodby," said Mr. King, as they both
arose, but the look he gave them was by no means as pleasant as the
one with which he had greeted them.

As soon as the two men were out of hearing, Jack turned to his
brother, "Pretty thin wasn't it?"

"It sure was; all they were after was to get hold of that new battery.
Something tells me that we are going to have trouble keeping our
secret."

At this moment their father came out on the porch.

"Boys, can you take me across? I want to catch the nine-thirty
downtown."

"Sure thing," answered Jack, "but we'll have to hustle, as it's after
nine now."

On the way across the boys told their father about the visit of the
two men and he agreed with them as to their motive. They landed Mr.
Golden just in time for his car and, as they were casting off, they
saw Mr. Wright running down the wharf towards them.

"Don't forget, boys, that you are coming to see us today."

"All right, sir," replied Bob, "We'll be down right after supper."

"And bring your sister and her friend with you," invited Mr. Wright.

"We'll do that," answered Jack eagerly.

The boys made good time back to the cottage, and spent the rest of the
day playing tennis with the girls and swimming in the lake. As soon as
supper was over, accompanied by the two girls, they started down the
lake to make their promised call.

"Hope to goodness they don't make a big fuss over us," grumbled Jack.

"Oh, you are too modest," declared Edna.

They spent a very pleasant evening with the Wrights, although poor
Jack's worst fears were realized, for it seemed that Mr. and Mrs.
Wright could not praise them enough for saving their children. The two
little girls, who were twins about ten years old, were very profuse
with their thanks, fairly hugging both boys, to their embarrassment,
which, however, greatly delighted both Edna and May. To their great
surprise, Mr. Wright presented each of the boys with a very pretty
gold watch "Not," he said, "to pay you for saving my girls, for I
could never do that, but as a slight token of my gratitude."

About nine o'clock they said good night and started for home. It was
a beautiful evening and, although the moon was not yet up, the stars
helped to make the darkness less intense. Bob ran the Sprite at about
half speed, for, although they had an electric searchlight, he did not
want to take any chances with the girls on board. They were about half
way home and near the middle of the lake, when suddenly a rowboat
loomed up dead ahead, and coming directly toward them. In it were two
men. One was at the oars, while the other was sitting in the bow. In a
moment the two boats were within speaking distance and a voice, which
both boys recognized as King's hailed them.

"I say, boys, can you give us a few matches; our lantern has gone out
and we haven't a single one left."

It happened that Bob had a box of safety matches in his pocket, and
always willing to oblige, he shut off the power and soon the rowboat
pulled up alongside. Reed caught hold of the side of the Sprite to
steady his boat, while King dropped his oars and stood up in the boat,
stretching forth his hand as if to take the box which Bob was holding
out to him. But suddenly he was dumfounded to see, shining from King's
hand, the barrel of a revolver.

"Now, young fellow, we are desperate men and want no fooling. Just
hand over that cell you are using to run that boat, and be mighty
quick about it, too."

"Why--why--what do you mean?" stammered Bob, for he was so amazed at
the turn affairs had taken that he could hardly speak.

"Quick, now, or we'll throw you all into the lake."

"Oh, Bob," whispered Edna, "let them have it or they'll kill us."

By this time Bob had partially recovered his senses, and his quick
brain was trying to figure a way out of the difficulty, for he did not
intend to give up the cell if he could help it. Fortunately, however,
the problem was solved for him in a very unexpected manner. The stern
of the rowboat was directly opposite the stern of the Sprite where
Jack was sitting. The latter, quickly taking in the situation, rose to
his feet, and suddenly giving a spring, landed, with his full weight,
on the stern of the light rowboat. Under his one-hundred sixty pounds,
the boat gave a heavy lurch and in a second King had lost his balance
and fallen over backwards into the lake. Both girls screamed and Jack
shouted as he scrambled back on board the larger boat. "Full speed
ahead, Bob."

When the rowboat lurched, Reed lost his hold and before he could
recover it, the Sprite was darting up the lake, while a string of
oaths from the rowboat followed them.

"My, but that was great work, Jack, old fellow," exclaimed Bob. "I
don't know how we would have saved the cell if you hadn't tipped that
fellow out of the boat. How'd you happen to think of it?"

"Didn't think of it at all," chuckled Jack, "Just did it without
thinking."

"Well," spoke up May, "it saved us and it was a mighty brave thing to
do."

"Now, turn off the soft soap spigot," ordered Jack, and they all
laughed.

They soon reached the wharf, and, running up to the house, told Mr.
Golden what had happened.

"This is serious, indeed," he declared, taking up the phone. He soon
had the manager of the hotel on the wire, telling him of the hold-up.
The manager, in turn, said that two men, calling themselves King and
Reed had been stopping there for about a week and had started off for
a row about eight o'clock that evening. He promised to have them
arrested at once if they returned, but doubted very much if they would
show up again. He suggested that Mr. Golden call up the police of
Skowhegan and Madison and ask them to be on the lookout for them. This
he did, describing the two men as well as he could from the boys'
description, and the police promised to be on the watch. But although
the country round about was well searched, no clue to them was found,
but the rowboat was picked up the next morning near the foot of the
lake.




CHAPTER VII.

BOB DISAPPEARS.


"It's your turn to get a pail of water, Bob."

"All right, just let me finish this chapter."

It was a couple of days after the events related in the last chapter.
All the family were on the porch except Bob, who was inside reading.
The drinking water, used by the Goldens, was brought from a spring,
about fifty rods back of the house in the woods. The house was
supplied with water from a deep well, but all liked the spring water
much better for drinking, so the boys took turns going after it.

Bob noticed that it was nearly ten o'clock when he closed his book,
took his electric torch and getting a pail from the kitchen, started
for the spring. The night was pitch dark, as it was cloudy and there
was no moon, but the torch lit up the path in front of him so that he
had no trouble in following it. As he reached the spring, he thought
he heard a slight rustling in the bushes, but beyond thinking, "Guess
that's a rabbit," he paid no attention to it. He was bending over the
spring to fill his pail, when suddenly he was grabbed from behind,
jerked over backwards and, before he could cry out, a hand was placed
over his mouth and he felt himself held to the ground by two men.

"Not a sound, if you value your life," hissed one of them, and then a
gag was thrust into his mouth and he was rudely turned over on his
stomach.

"Quick, Bill, hand me those ropes," whispered one of the men, and in
another minute his hands were securely bound behind his back.

"Now let's get him out to the road as soon as we can," said the man
who had done all the talking, and whose voice Bob recognized as
belonging to the man he knew as King.

He was roughly pulled to his feet, and with King clinging to his right
and the other, whom Bob supposed to be Reed, hanging tightly to his
left arm, they started for the road, about a half mile distant. The
path was very rough, and as they flashed their light but seldom, it
was some time before they reached the road. As they climbed the last
fence, Bob could see dimly a large car standing by the roadside.
Taking a large handkerchief from his pocket, King bound it tightly
over Bob's eyes and ordered him to get into the back seat of the car.
Poor Bob had to do as he was ordered, and was quickly followed by
King, while the other man took the wheel.

"Now, hit her up, Bill," whispered King, and the car bounded ahead.

"It seems to me that Bob's an awful long time getting that pail of
water," said Edna, getting out of the hammock. "I wish he'd hurry up,
I'm nearly choked for a drink."

"Same here," declared Jack. "He's been gone long enough to get a dozen
pails. Guess I'll go meet him and hustle him up a bit."

So saying, he got his electric torch from the house, and started off
along the path. He was somewhat surprised not to meet Bob, or to hear
his merry whistle, but was not alarmed till he reached the spring and,
flashing his light around, spied the pail, lying on its side a few
feet away. "Well, that's funny," he thought, and putting two fingers
in his mouth, he gave two long shrill whistles, their signal to each
other. Receiving no reply, he made a hurried search of the bushes
nearby, but beyond noticing evidence of a struggle, he found no trace
of the missing boy.

"Something has happened to Bob," he thought, now thoroughly alarmed.
"There's been a fight here and I'll bet a fish hook that he's been
kidnapped." In spite of the darkness, Jack nearly flew back to the
cottage.

"Dad, dad," he shouted, as he bounded on to the porch, "they've got
Bob."

"Who's got Bob? What do you mean?" asked Mr. Golden from upstairs,
where he was getting ready for bed.

"I don't know who's got him," cried excited Jack, "but there's been
some kind of a fight at the spring, and he's gone."

"It's impossible," declared Mr. Golden, who by this time had come down
into the living room, where the family had gathered. "There's no one
round here who would kidnap him."

"How about those men who held us up on the lake the other night?"
asked May.

"By gracious, that's so," said Mr. Golden. "Why didn't I think of them
before? Give me the phone, quick."

As quickly as possible he called up the police of all the towns
nearby, and told them what had happened. They all promised to be on
the watch and to do all they could to catch the kidnappers.

"That ought to get them," he declared, as he hung up the receiver.
"Bob's been gone only about an hour, and they can't have taken him
very far yet."

"Oh dear, Oh dear! Do you suppose they will harm him?" sobbed Mrs.
Golden.

"No, my dear," assured her husband, trying to calm her, "I don't think
they will dare to hurt him. 'If it is those two men who have him they
will try to make him disclose the secret of the cell, for that's
undoubtedly what they are after."

No one in the house thought of going to bed, but sat around eagerly
listening for the ring of the phone. Suddenly, at eleven-fifteen, it
rang and Mr. Golden eagerly grabbed up the receiver.

"Is this Mr. Golden?" came the voice over the wire.

"Yes, yes," he replied eagerly, "Who is talking?"

"This is Switzer."

"Oh, yes, Mr. Switzer. Any news?"

"Nothing much, but Joe has just come in and says that a big car just
went over the bridge at about forty miles an hour. He shouted to them
to stop, but they paid no attention, except to turn on more speed, and
they were going so fast that he couldn't stop them nor get their
number. But he's started off in his car and is going to try to follow
'em, but I'm afraid it's not much use."

Switzer was chief of police of Skowhegan.

"Well, let me know at once if you hear anything," said Mr. Golden as
he hung up the receiver. Then he told the rest what he had heard,
adding, "There's no telling which way they are heading, even if it
were they, which, of course, is not at all sure."

The hours dragged slowly on. From time to time the phone rang, but it
was always the same; no other clue had been found.

"If he is not found by eight o'clock," said Mr. Golden, "I shall
telegraph to Boston for a detective."

Meanwhile, what of the missing boy? The car, into which he had been
thrust, started off at high speed, and although he tried his best to
keep track of its direction, it was impossible, and in less than ten
minutes he had lost all idea as to which way they were going. He was
unable to speak, owing to the gag in his mouth, and not a word was
uttered by either of the men as the car rushed on through the night.
They had been traveling for, what seemed to Bob, nearly two hours, and
his bonds were cutting his wrists cruelly, when suddenly the car
slowed up and the character of the road changed. From its roughness
and the slow pace at which they were now moving he judged that they
must be passing over a woods road. After proceeding in this manner for
perhaps twenty minutes, the car stopped and for the first time, the
man at the wheel spoke.

"Well, here we are."

It was Reed's voice sure enough.

King immediately got out and ordered Bob to follow him. "You put the
car up, Bill," he said, "and I'll escort our guest into the house."

So saying, he took Bob by the arm and led him forward.

"Now, step up," he ordered; and a moment later he announced, "Now
we're going upstairs."

As soon as they reached the top, King led him a few steps and then
said:

"Now we'll have a light and then I'll take off your blinders."

He lit a small lamp, and then, to Bob's great relief, removed the gag
and blindfold. Bob looked about him and saw that he was in a small
bare room containing only a cot and a small table.

"Say," he asked, "what's the meaning of all this, anyway?"

"Ask me no questions and I'll tell you no lies," answered King.
"You'll know all about it in good time."

"Well, just untie this rope, will you? It's cutting into my wrists
like the dickens."

"All right, but mind, now, no funny business. I've got a grudge
against you for tipping me into the lake the other night, and if you
get gay you'll get hurt, that's all."

He at once untied the rope which bound Bob's hands and Bob began to
pound them together, for so tightly had they been bound, that they
were almost numb.

"Now you can lie down on that cot and get some sleep if you want to,
I'm going to bed downstairs."

"Won't you tell me why you have brought me here?"

"Not tonight, I won't tell you anything," was the gruff reply.

So saying, King picked up the light and left the room, and Bob heard
him lock the door behind him with a key and also shoot a bolt. He had
noticed a single window near the foot of the cot and groped his way
toward it. It was unlocked, but on raising it, he found that it was
protected by heavy iron bars, not more than three inches apart.

"Well," he thought, "here's a go for sure. Kidnapped in Maine in the
twentieth century. Now wouldn't that jar you?" However, dark as the
prospect seemed, Bob was a brave boy and by no means lost heart.

"Gee, but the folks will be worried to death about me," he thought as
he sat down on the cot. "I'll bet mother is crying her eyes out.
Well," he said to himself a moment later, "guess I might as well lie
down and try to get some sleep, for I'll be likely to need all my
strength before I get through with this mess." So saying, he threw
himself back on the cot, which, he found, made a by no means
uncomfortable bed. "If they think they are going to make me tell them
about that cell, they've got another think coming," he thought, just
before he fell into a deep sleep.

The sun was streaming in through the window when Bob awoke, and for a
moment, he could not think where he was, then suddenly the events of
the night before came back to him, and jumping up, he hastily stepped
to the window. He could see nothing, however, but a dense forest. At
this moment he heard the bolt shot back and the key turned in the
lock. A moment later, Reed entered the room, carrying an old tin
waiter on which were a cup of coffee, some sandwiches and a couple of
eggs.

"Well," thought Bob, "they don't intend to starve me at any rate."

"Here's your breakfast, kid," announced Reed.

The thought came into Bob's mind that he might overpower the man and
make a sudden dash for liberty, but just then he heard King below, and
realizing that he would be but a child in the hands of so powerful a
man, he quickly gave up the idea. Laying the tray on the table, Reed
at once left the room, locking the door behind him. Bob lost no time
in falling to, for he was very hungry, and soon every crumb had
vanished. In a little more than half an hour, he heard steps on the
stairs, and both men came in, locking the door after them.

"Now, kid," said King. "I'm going to tell you what we want with you.
We've got you here a good ways from nowhere and you can't get away,
and what's more, no one can find you here either. There isn't a road
or a house anywhere near, so you can yell all you blamed please for
all the good it will do you. Probably you can guess what we want. We
happen to know that you have got on to a new kind of a storage battery
and we mean to have it. Now, you tell us how it is made and as soon
as we can send word to Boston, to our laboratory, and find out that
you are telling the truth, we'll let you go. On the other hand, if you
are stubborn, and refuse, you'll stay here and get all that's coming
to you. We're desperate men and we're going to have it, so you might
as well give in at once."

While he had been talking, Bob had been thinking rapidly. That they
meant to do as they said, he had not the least doubt, but he didn't
intend to give in unless he found it necessary to save his life. "Let
me have a few hours to think it over, will you?"

"I'll give you till three o'clock, but don't think you can escape, for
you can't. Even if you did get out, we have two of the ugliest dogs
you ever saw watching below, and they'd tear you to pieces in a jiffy.
Come on, Bill, we'll leave him awhile, but say, sonny," he added,
turning to Bob once more, "we don't want to hurt you and you'd better
give in and save trouble."

"I'll think it over," was Bob's reply as they went out.




CHAPTER VIII.

BOB ESCAPES--ALMOST


About noon Reed came up bringing Bob's dinner, consisting of potatoes,
trout, evidently caught nearby, and a glass of milk. "You better make
the best of this," he said, "I'll tell you now that you won't get
another bite to eat till you tell us what we want to know."

Bob gave a sudden start. "So, that's your game, is it?" he asked.

"Yes, that's our game, and as you look like a pretty good feeder, I
guess it won't take long."

"Perhaps not," said Bob, as Reed left.

Poor Bob! He ate up every crumb of his dinner. The prospect was dark
enough, to say the least, but he had not lost heart, for an idea had
occurred to him which he intended to put into practice that night. As
there was nothing else to do he spent the time lying on the cot
thinking. About three o'clock, King looked in.

"Ready to tell us?" he asked.

"Not yet," was Bob's reply.

"All right, just as you say. I suppose the old saying, that you can
lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink, holds in your
case, but if this horse don't drink pretty soon, he'll wish he'd never
been born." Then, after a moment's pause, he continued, in a kinder
tone: "Come now, boy, what's the use? We've got all the trump in this
game and you've got to give in sooner or later, so why not do it now
and save yourself trouble?"

"You seem to be on top just at present, for a fact," agreed Bob, "but
just the same I'm not going to give in just now." King muttered
something about him soon wishing he had and left the room.

That night he got no supper. Now, going without his meals did not, in
the least, agree with Bob's disposition, at any time, and now he had
much more than hunger to rouse his anger, and by eleven o'clock, he
was, as he put it to himself, fighting mad.

"I haven't heard any dogs and I don't believe they've got any," he
thought. "Anyhow, I'm going to run the risk if I can get through that
door." Fortunately, he had not been searched and as he had a good
strong jackknife, it had occurred to him that he might cut a hole in
the door large enough to get his hand through. He waited till one
o'clock, and then began his attack. It was pretty hard cutting, as it
was spruce, but he kept steadily at it and in about an hour had a
small hole through, and another half hour of hard cutting enabled him
to enlarge it sufficiently to pass his hand through, turn the key and
slip back the bolt. "Now for it," he thought. "If they've got a dog
I'll give him the fight of his life."

Cautiously, he crept down the stairs, which creaked a little in spite
of his efforts, holding the open knife in his hand. He finally reached
the bottom without any mishap and, so far as he could tell, without
being heard. Unlocking the door, he stepped softly out on the porch.
It was a beautiful starlight night and, although there was no moon, it
did not seem very dark. Bob was just beginning to feel easier, when he
heard a low growl and, looking round, he saw a huge mastiff eyeing him
a few feet away. "Good dog," he whispered, thinking he might make
friends with him, but the brute continued to growl and slowly crept
nearer.

Bob saw that he was about to spring and braced himself for the attack.
As the dog jumped, the boy drew back his right foot, and with a
powerful kick caught him fairly in the stomach. With a low whine of
pain, the dog fell back and without giving him time to recover, Bob
sprang forward and, seizing him by the throat, plunged the knife blade
to the handle in his side. The dog gave one howl and stiffened out.

"One enemy the less," thought Bob as he rose to his feet, but he was
not to get off so easily, for just then the door opened and Reed
stepped out.

"Thunder and lightning," he gasped, "How'd you get out."

Bob did not stop to explain, but jumping off the porch and started on
a run down the path.

"Quick, Jim, he's getting away," shouted Reed, as he started after the
escaping boy.

Bob was a fast runner, but he was sadly handicapped by not knowing
which way to go in the darkness, and the path was rough. Still, he
might have escaped had he not met with a mishap. He had not gone more
than a hundred yards, when his foot caught in a vine, and he fell
forward on his face, his knife flying from his hand. Before he could
pick himself up and start again, Reed was upon him. Bob did not intend
to submit to capture a second time if he could help it, and, as he was
caught round the body, he gave a sudden squirm, which broke Reed's
hold, instantly drawing back his right arm, he struck out with all his
strength. The blow was a heavy one, and caught Reed fairly on the
nose, making him grunt with pain. It did not, however, put him out of
the fight, and before Bob could turn and run, he felt a stinging blow
on the ear, which dazed him for a second. He quickly recovered, and
grabbing Reed, tried his best to force him to the ground.

Although a small man, he was no means weak, and the struggle waged
fast and furiously. Finally, Bob succeeded in getting a half nelson
round his neck, and the next instant Reed felt himself hurled to the
ground, which he struck with tremendous force. All the fight was
knocked out of him, and once more Bob started to run, but alas for his
hopes, he was too late, for just then King appeared on the scene.

Bob was so nearly exhausted by this time, that he could make but
little headway, and soon King grabbed him round the neck and bore him
to the ground. He realized that it would be useless to struggle
against this man, for he was almost a giant in strength.

"So you thought you'd give us the slip, did you? Well, you're a slick
one, that's a fact, and you're no coward either, but really we can't
dispense with your company yet awhile," said the man as he dragged Bob
to his feet.

By this time Reed had managed to get on his feet. "D---- the brat," he
growled, "he's strong as a moose. My nose is bleeding like a stuck
pig, and it feels as though half my bones were broken."

"Well, Bill, we can't blame the kid for trying to get away, but it
beats me how he got out of that room, and, say, what was that dog
doing? Guess he's no good."

"I don't think he is much good any more," Bob couldn't help saying.
"You'll find him on the porch."

"If you've killed that dog, I'll take it out of your hide," growled
Reed.

"Easy there, Bill," admonished King, "I won't have the kid ill-treated
for trying to get away and defending himself, and, if he had to kill
the dog to do it, he had a right to. I admire bravery wherever I see
it, but we'll fix things after this so that he won't have a chance to
show his spunk to such good advantage."

While talking, the two men had been leading Bob back to the house.
Seeing the dog on the porch, Reed turned him over; "Well he's done for
all right, confound him. I wouldn't have taken one hundred dollars for
that dog," he said.

"Come on now," urged King, "We'll see to him in the morning. I want to
find out how this kid got out of that room."

Reaching the top of the stairs and holding up the lantern, which he
had grabbed up from the porch, the method was plainly apparent.

"Well I'll be switched," said King. "Bill we ought to be ashamed of
ourselves not to have searched him. I never thought of him having a
knife that he could cut through that door with. You go down and get a
board and some nails, and we'll soon have this fixed."

The hole was boarded over, plenty of nails being used, and as he drove
the last one, King said, "Now I'll look him over and see if he has
anything else he can use."

Bob knew it would be useless to resist, and so allowed himself to be
searched, but nothing was found which they considered dangerous.

"I guess, Bill, one of us had better stay up the rest of the night,"
said King, as he finished his search. "I don't see how he could get
away again, but we won't take any chances."

As they were about to leave the room, Bob asked, "Can't you give me
something to eat? I'm awfully hungry."

"Sure thing," replied King. "There's a fine mess of trout downstairs,
which Bill caught this afternoon, and I can boil some potatoes in no
time. You just tell us what we want to know, and I'll have you a fine
meal in less than half an hour."

But Bob was not yet ready to give up. "Never mind," he said, "I guess
I'm not so hungry as I thought I was."

They went out and he heard them go down the stairs. Throwing himself
on the cot he groaned, "Oh dear, to come so near to getting away and
then fail. But," he thought, "I did my best, and I'll bet Reed's nose
will be sore for a few days. If that blow had only caught him on the
chin, I might have made it before King got there."

He lay for a long time thinking how he could foil his captors.
Suddenly, he sprang up. "Why not?" he said to himself. "It may work if
I can carry through the bluff. Anyhow, it'll be better than starving
here, and I'm going to try it."

Having decided on a line of action, he once more threw himself on the
cot and was soon asleep.

No one came near him till nearly ten o'clock that morning, and by that
time, Bob felt, as he expressed it, as though the bottom of his
stomach had fallen out.

"How goes it?" was King's greeting, as he entered the room, "Getting
pretty hungry?"

"Hungry!" growled Bob, "If you don't look out I may eat you up."

King laughed, "What's the use of sticking it out any longer?" he
asked. "You've got to give in or starve."

"I'm beginning to think that's so," replied Bob, "I did intend to
stick it out, but I'm too hungry."

"That's the way to talk. Now you tell me all about it, and then I'll
bring you up a good dinner. But mind now," he added, "if you don't
tell it straight, I'll--I'll, well, your folks will never have the
pleasure of seeing you again, that's all."

"Well now, see here," began Bob, "I can't tell you how to make that
cell so that you could do it."

"Can't? Why not?" demanded King.

"Because," continued Bob, "the success of it depends on the
temperature at which the metals composing the caps are put together,
and that point can be determined only by the looks of them, and I
couldn't possibly describe it so that any one could detect the right
point."

"Then how are you going to work it?"

"Why, didn't you say that you have a laboratory in Boston?"

"Yes, but what of it?"

"Well, why not take me there and let me make it for you?"

King thought a moment and then said, "I don't altogether like that
idea, but I'll talk it over with Bill and see what he says."

As he was leaving the room, Bob added, "That's the best I can do. If I
should tell you about it, and then you failed, you would blame me, and
I'd have to suffer for it."

King was gone about half an hour, and when he returned, he brought a
good dinner with him.

"We've decided to take you up, and here's your dinner," he said. "But
now listen to me. My future depends on this thing; how, is none of
your business, but I'd rather die than fail, so if you try any funny
business, you can know what to expect."

"How soon shall we start?" asked Bob.

"We shall start, in the car, as soon as it is dark."

"I don't know," thought Bob, after King had left the room, "whether
I'm jumping out of the frying pan into the fire or not, but that
dinner looks mighty good to me, so here goes."




CHAPTER IX.

ON THE ROAD TO BOSTON


"Well, the die is cast one way or the other," thought Bob, as he ate
the last scrap of his dinner; "that sure did taste good." Then as a
sudden thought struck him, he began hurriedly to search his pockets.
As good luck would have it, he found a small note book, containing
several blank leaves and a stub of a lead pencil. Hastily, he tore out
a page and wrote the following note:

     "I am confined in a house in the woods, have no idea
     where, but it must be within twenty or thirty miles of
     Skowhegan. King and Reed are taking me to Boston tonight,
     in a car. Secret still safe."

     BOB GOLDEN.

Folding the paper, he wrote on the outside, "Will the finder of this
paper please send it to Mr. Golden, Skowhegan?" He made several copies
of the note, thinking as he did so, "If I can only get a chance to
throw these out of the car, one of them, at least, may get to father.
I don't know as it will do me much good, but it will let the folks
know that I'm still alive."

Supper was brought to him at five o'clock, and at seven, King came up
to tell him that they were about to start. "Now, see here, boy," he
said, "we don't want to be any harder on you than we can help, and if
you give me your word that you won't try to get away, or make any
trouble, we won't tie you."

Bob thought he might as well promise as he knew they would make it
impossible for him to escape if he did not, and he dreaded being tied,
so he gave his word.

"All right then," said King, "but mind now, that you keep it, because
if you make any trouble, I'll have to tie you up and gag you."

"Are we going all the way tonight?"

King laughed. "I guess not; if we drove too fast, it would excite
suspicion, and we'd have to drive like the dickens to make it in one
night. No, we'll make Portland by daylight and lie low there till
dark. But come on, now; there's Bill with the car. I shall have to
blindfold you for awhile, for I suppose you are pretty well acquainted
round here and I don't intend to let you know where this place is."

He took a large handkerchief from his pocket as he spoke and tied it
tightly over Bob's eyes.

"Now mind, you don't take that off till I give you permission," he
ordered, as he led him from the room and down the stairs.

As they came out on the porch, Bob could hear a powerful car purring
close at hand. He and King got into the rear seat.

"Have you got the suitcases and the rest of the stuff, Bill?" asked
King.

"Yes, they're all in back there."

"All right, then, let her go."

Darkness was just falling as they started, and at first, their pace
was very slow, as the road was too rough for any but the very slowest
speed, at which a car could be run. In about twenty minutes, they came
to the end of the woods road and the car turned into a much smoother
highway, and Reed sent her forward at a lively clip.

"Now, kid, you get down on the bottom of the car till it gets a little
darker," ordered King, and Bob had to obey.

They continued in this way for half an hour or a little more, when
King said, "I guess it's dark enough now; you can get up on the seat
again, and I'll take that rag off." As soon as this was done, Bob
strained his eyes to see if he could tell where they were, but it was
too dark to see much, and he was unable to so much as guess their
location for some time. In about an hour, however, they passed a large
house, which stood very near the road, and he at once recognized it
as being but a few miles from Oakland. He was well acquainted with the
road, as he had several times driven his father's car to Boston.

Reed was running at about twenty miles an hour most of the time, and
instead of passing through the towns, he choose roads, for the most
part, which led around them. They lost considerable time in this way,
but Bob figured that they, would probably get to Portland before
daybreak.

About one o'clock, they were passing over a particularly rough piece
of road, when, bang, went one of the rear tires. "Hang it all, there's
a blowout," growled Reed, bringing the car to a stop. "But it won't
take long to slip on the extra rim."

While they were waiting, Bob noticed that King did not watch him quite
as closely as he had been doing, and he managed to slip his hand into
his pocket and take out one of the notes he had written. In less than
fifteen minutes, Reed announced that the job was finished, and just as
they were about to start, Bob, carelessly hanging his hand over the
edge of the car, let the note fall to the ground, unnoticed by either
of the men. Nothing more worthy of note happened, except that he
managed to drop a second note as they passed through the little town
of Brunswick, and at about half past four, just as the dawn was
beginning to light up the East, Reed drove the car into the yard of a
house standing well back from the road.

"Here we are," he announced, and King at once gave a peculiar whistle,
which was soon answered by the raising of a window on the second
floor.

"Hello, Frank, is that you?" asked King.

"Yes," was the answer. "What do you want?"

"Come down here, and we'll tell you," answered King, and the window
was at once shut. In a few moments, they were joined by a short man,
about forty years old, who Reed greeted as Frank, shaking his hand
cordially.

"We're on our way to Boston, and we've got a young fellow here, who
don't like our company any too well," explained King with a slight
laugh, "and we want you to put us up till night, as it isn't good for
our complexions to travel in the daytime. No one here, is there?"

"No, it's all right. Just drive the machine into the barn and come in.
I'll have breakfast ready in a few minutes, and then you can turn in.
Been riding all night, hain't ye?"

"Yes, and I guess we can do a little something in both the eating and
sleeping line," answered King. "We haven't had any eats since we
started."

They had a fairly good meal, after which the man called Frank said,
"You and the kid can go up in the south room, on the third floor, you
know which one, and Bill can sleep on the lounge in the parlor."

"All right," replied King, "Come on, kid."

The room which they entered was small, and contained but a single bed.
It was lighted by two small windows, about eight inches square, placed
nearly six feet from the floor.

"I guess you'll be safe here with me," declared King, as he locked the
door, and put the key in his pocket. "I'm a very light sleeper, and I
told Frank to keep his eyes peeled, so you'd better not try to get
away."

As Bob made no reply, King, removing only his coat, threw himself on
the bed, telling Bob to do the same. As the boy was very sleepy, and
somewhat tired from his long ride, he was not long in obeying.
Although he did not feel that he was bound by his promise, while they
were there, he realized that the chances of escape were so small, that
it would be foolish to make the attempt, and deciding to await a more
favorable opportunity, he was soon fast asleep.

When he awoke, it was nearly three o'clock, and he was alone in the
room. Jumping up, he tried the door, but, as he expected, it was
locked. "Gee, but this sort of thing is getting on my nerves," he
thought. "When we get to Boston, I'm going to do something desperate,
if I have to, to get away."

He could hear some one moving about, on the lower floor, from time to
time, but no one came near him till nearly six o'clock, when King came
up and told him to come down to supper. After the meal, they waited
till it was fairly dark, and then started off again. Nothing of
importance happened during the trip, and Bob found chances to drop two
more notes as they passed through small towns.

About three o'clock, they reached the outskirts of Boston, and King
said, "Now I shall have to blindfold you again, and you will have to
lie down on the bottom of the car."

"What for?"

"Never you mind what for," replied King, and then added, "You don't
suppose I'm fool enough to let you see where we're going, do you?"

Bob was forced to obey, but fortunately, for his position was far from
comfortable, they were not far from their destination, and in less
than a half hour the car stopped.

"We're here at last," announced King, as he opened the door of the
car, and taking Bob by the arm, led him up some steps into a house.
Once inside, the blindfold was removed, and Bob saw that he was in,
what appeared to be, a fairly good-sized, but poorly furnished house.
The opening of the door had evidently aroused some one, for the stairs
creaked, and glancing up, Bob saw a very small man, with a huge hump
on his back, coming down.

"Well, Nip, how's things?" asked King.

"All O. K., sir," replied the hump-back, "but I didn't expect you back
so soon."

"No, I suppose not, but we're here and mighty hungry. Can't you give
us a cold bite, quick?"

"I guess I can find something. You wait here a minute," and the
hump-back went toward the rear of the house.

"We'll go in here and sit down till he's ready," said King, motioning
Bob to precede him, into what seemed to be a small sitting room.

They had not waited more than ten minutes, when they heard from the
rear room, "All right, sir," and going through a long hall they
entered a room, where they found a table set with a plain, but
generous lunch of cold meat, bread and butter and apple pie. Bob did
full justice to the meal and, as soon as they were through, King said,
"Now we'll go upstairs and get a little sleep, but I want to get to
work as soon as we can."

He led Bob up some bare stairs, ushered him into a small room on the
second floor and told him to make himself at home.

"You'll occupy this room while you're our guest, and as it has been
fitted up for just such guests as you, I hardly think you'll leave
till we get ready to let you go," King laughed, as he left the room.

The room was lighted by electric light, which King had turned on as
they entered, and Bob proceeded at once to take account of stock, as
he expressed it. The room contained only a bed and a single chair. It
had but one window, and that was heavily barred. On examining the door
he was surprised to find that it was made of steel.

"I guess King was right when he said that guests in this room stayed
till they were invited out," he thought. "Oh, well, I suppose I must
get some sleep while I can, so here goes."

It seemed to Bob that he had hardly fallen asleep, when he was
somewhat rudely shaken, and opened his eyes to find King standing by
the bed.

"Come," he said, "it's seven o'clock, and I want to show you the
laboratory and get to work."

Bob rose sleepily and followed him downstairs. King led the way down
to the basement, and into a large room. Bob needed but a glance to
tell him that it was a fairly well-equipped laboratory.

"Now, I want you to take a careful look around, see what we've got
that you can use, and then, make out a list of what else you want.
I'll get them this forenoon, and you can begin work right after
dinner. Oh, by the way, how long will it take you to do the job?"

"Well," replied Bob thoughtfully, "In my laboratory at home, I could
probably make one in a week, but here, where I'm not used to things,
it will probably take me ten days or more."

"Ten fiddle sticks," cried King angrily, "You're trying to fool me.
You've got to do it in much less time than that I can tell you."

Bob knew that he could probably make one of the cells in a couple of
days at the outside, but he intended to take all the time he could,
and watch for a chance to escape, so he said calmly, "All right, if
you can do it in less time, you'd better do it."

"Well, well, hurry and get your list made out," demanded King testily.

Bob walked around examining the laboratory and equipment for about a
half hour and then asked for paper and pencil. They were quickly
supplied, and sitting at a desk in one corner of the room, he soon
handed King the following list:

Two pounds of lead nitrate.

One-half pound lead.

One-half pound antimon.

One-half pound copper.

One-half pound tin.

Ten or fifteen pounds of fine sand, suitable for making a mold.

One copper cylinder, eight inches long by 1 and one-half inches in
diameter.

"How are you fixed for electrolysis?" he asked, as he handed King the
list.

"Guess we can fix you up all right. We've got a good storage battery
and two or three glass tanks and considerable platinum. Now we'll go
up and see if breakfast is ready," he said, putting the pager in his
pocket.




CHAPTER X.

THE DETECTIVE ARRIVES.


"But, father, isn't there something we can do?" asked Jack, for about
the tenth time that day. It was about three o'clock in the afternoon
of the day following Bob's disappearance. They had waited in vain for
any news of the lost boy and at about eight-thirty o'clock, Mr. Golden
had got into communication, by telephone, with a well-known detective
agency in Boston and they had promised to have one of their best men
there on the four-forty train.

"Yes, I guess we can do something now. We'll run across in the Sprite,
and catch the four o'clock trolley to town, which will get us there in
time to meet that detective, Mr. Sharp."

Glad of anything which promised action, Jack grabbed his cap and
started for the boathouse. It had been a terrible day to him, for he
was lost without Bob, and the thought that he might never see him
again nearly drove him frantic. He and his father were soon in the
Sprite speeding across the lake, and as they reached the wharf in
front of the hotel, they saw Fred and Will Jenkins just getting into
their boat.

"Hello, Jack, heard anything from Bob yet?" asked Will.

"No, not yet."

"Well, let us know when you do. So long."

Jack wasn't sure, but it seemed to him that there was a half sneer to
Will's voice, and that both Fred and Will had an uneasy look about
them.

"Say, dad," he asked after he had removed the cell from the motor and
put it in his pocket, "did you notice anything strange about those
fellows."

"Strange, what do you mean?" asked his father.

"I hardly know, but somehow, I feel it in my bones, that they've had a
hand in this business. Look here," and reaching his hand into his back
pocket, he pulled out a small knife which he handed to his father,
saying, "I found that about thirty feet from the spring this forenoon.
It is not rusted any to speak of, so it couldn't have been there
long."

"Do you know whose it is?" asked his father.

"I'm not sure," replied Jack, "but I've seen Will Jenkins use a knife
which looked a good deal like this one. I'd have asked him about it,
only I didn't think of it in time."

"You be sure and tell the detective about it," said Mr. Golden. "Of
course it doesn't prove anything, as there are probably lots of knives
just like it in town."

By this time they were on the car and in about thirty minutes they
reached Skowhegan. As they passed down the street toward the station,
they were stopped many times by friends, asking anxiously after Bob
and by the time they reached the depot the train was whistling. As it
drew in and came to a stop, a small man with a smooth face was the
first to alight. There were not many passengers, and Mr. Golden knew
most of them. The man who first got off, however, was a stranger, and
he seemed to be looking for some one; Mr. Golden stepped up to him and
asked if he was Mr. Sharp.

"Right first time," was the reply, "and you must be Mr. Golden."

Jack was then introduced, but he was much disappointed, for Mr. Sharp
did not at all answer his idea of a detective. In common with most
boys, he had always imagined a detective to be a very mysterious-looking
person, while Mr. Sharp was indeed very ordinary in appearance.

The trolley car was waiting only a couple of squares away for its
return trip to the lake, and as soon as they obtained his suitcase
from the baggage room, they started.

"We'll be up in time for supper," said Mr. Golden, as they boarded the
car.

On the way up, Mr. Golden gave the detective an account of Bob's
disappearance, including the events which preceded it. As there were
but few people on the car, they could talk in low tones with no danger
of being overheard. The detective said but little, except to ask a
question now and then, but when they were in the Sprite, on their way
across the lake, he said:

"Mr. Golden, I want you to give me a careful description of those two
men."

"I guess Jack can do that better than I, as I only saw them once, and
then took no particular notice of them."

So Jack described them as well as he could, but the detective shook
his head.

"Can't place 'em. Your description of Reed would fit a dozen men I
know, and while the other one puts me in mind of a fellow I once
arrested for counterfeiting, I'm not sure. You didn't notice a scar on
his upper lip, did you?"

"No, I thought I told you that he had a mustache."

"So you did, so you did," said the detective, "I must be getting
forgetful."

Supper was ready by the time they arrived at the cottage, and as soon
as it was over, the detective asked to be shown the way to the
spring, and once there, he made a thorough search of the immediate
vicinity, but after nearly an hour had passed, he was forced to
acknowledge that he had found no clue. As soon as they got back to the
house, he called Boston on the telephone.

"Hello, Bill? Yes. I want you to find out as quickly as possible the
whereabouts of Jim Edwards. Yes, that's the fellow. Call me as soon as
you get any news." He gave the number of the phone and then hung up.

Early in the morning the phone rang, and Sharp was asked for. After a
short conversation, he hung up the receiver, saying to Mr. Golden and
Jack, who were in the room, "Nothing has been heard of that fellow
Edwards since he got out of prison, nearly a year ago. Now, Jack, if
you'll run me across in your boat, I'll go down to the village, and
don't be surprised if you don't see me for a day or two."

"This is a mighty fine boat you have," remarked Sharp, as they were
skimming across the lake in the Sprite. "Is this the new cell?"

"Yes," replied Jack, and then added bitterly, "I wish we'd never made
the old thing, then Bob wouldn't have been kidnapped."

"It's wonderful to think of you boys making a discovery like that.
Why, do you realize what a tremendous lot of money there is in it?"

"I suppose so, but I can't bear to think of it now that Bob's gone."

They soon reached the hotel wharf, and the detective, taking Jack by
the hand, said, "Keep up your courage, my boy; I don't think they will
harm your brother, and sooner or later, we will be sure to find him."
So saying, he started off toward the trolley, while Jack pushed off
and sadly headed the Sprite for home.

"Somehow, I don't think much of that detective," he thought, as he
sped along. "He may be all right, and I suppose he is, but he hasn't
got enough snap in him to suit me."

Jack's adverse opinion of Sharp was increased tenfold, when he
returned the following night and reported that he had been unable to
find a single clue. "By the way," he said, "I tried to find those
Jenkins boys to see if I could get anything out of them, but they left
town on the early train yesterday, and no one seems to know where they
have gone."

It was late the next afternoon. Sharp had gone off early in the
morning, saying that he would probably be back that night. Jack had
spent the forenoon on the lake with his mother and the girls, trying
to cheer them up. Mrs. Golden was rapidly giving away under the
strain, while Edna's eyes were constantly red and swollen from crying.
Mr. Golden had gone to his office that morning, but had returned on
the twelve o'clock car, and they had met him at the wharf and taken
him over in the Sprite. It was about four o'clock, and they were till
on the porch, talking as usual about the missing boy.

"Say, dad, I don't think much of that detective fellow," Jack was
saying, when the phone rang sharply, and he ran into the house to
answer it. A moment later he shouted, "Dad, you're wanted on the long
distance." Mr. Golden came in quickly and took the receiver.

"Is this Mr. Golden of Skowhegan?" came over the wire.

"Yes."

"This is the police station at Brunswick. A boy has just come in here
with a note, which he says he found in the street. It's so covered
with dirt, that it's pretty hard to read, but listen and I'll read
what we've made out. Can you hear?"

"Yes, yes, go ahead, I can hear all right."

The voice then read the note, which Bob had dropped the night before.
As Bob had thought, it didn't tell them much, but it let them know
that he was alive and well, and that helped some and made them feel a
little better. After Mr. Golden had finished telling them what he had
heard, Jack said nothing for some moments, but sat thinking deeply.
Suddenly, he looked up. "Dad," he said, "I want you to let me go to
Boston. Bob's there, and I might be able to find him."

"Why, my dear boy, what could you do in Boston. It is a big city,"
spoke up Mrs. Golden, "and you don't know where they have taken him.
Besides," she added sadly, "they might get you too."

"I guess I could look out for myself. Jerusalem, but I've got to do
something. I'm tired of this sitting round waiting for some one else
to do it all, and," he added sadly, "this all don't seem to amount to
a hill of beans. What do you say, dad?"

"Well, I hardly know what to say," replied Mr. Golden. "We'll wait
till Mr. Sharp returns, and see if he has any news." But, although
they waited till nearly one o'clock, the detective did not come.

They had all gone to bed but father and son. "Come, dad, say I may
go," pleaded Jack.

"Well, I'm not at all sure it's the wise thing, but something seems to
tell me that I had better let you have your way."

"Hurrah!" shouted Jack. "I'll be off on the five o'clock train."

"No," said his father, "you had better wait till a later train, and
perhaps I'll go with you, but I don't want to go till Sharp returns,
and now let's go to bed."

Sharp did not return the next morning, and at breakfast, Mr. Golden
said, "Jack, I guess you had better take the noon train. If Sharp
doesn't come with some news by that time, I'll wait and come later, if
I think best."

The thought that at last he was going to do something toward finding
Bob filled Jack with joy, and by ten o'clock he was ready to start. He
and Mr. Golden went across in the Sprite, after assuring his mother
that he would be very careful and not get into trouble.

"Now, my dear boy, be very careful and look out for yourself," said
Mr. Golden, as he bade him goodby. "Go to Uncle Ben's tonight, and
tomorrow, you had better go to the agency and have them detail a man
to help you in your search," and then he added sadly, "It's like
looking for a needle in a haystack, but if you don't get into trouble,
it won't do any harm."

"Don't worry about me," assured Jack, "I'll look out for myself and,"
he added, "I'll find Bob if I have to go through Boston with a fine
tooth comb."

The Boston train pulled into the North station at eight o'clock, and
as he was pretty hungry, Jack thought he would go into a restaurant
just across the street, for supper, before going to his uncle's, as he
lived in Winthrop, a town about five miles from the city, across the
harbor. As he left the station, he caught sight of a man elbowing his
way through the crowd, that made his heart thump.

"On my soul, I believe that's Reed," he said half aloud, starting
towards him. As he pushed forward he saw the man turn, and for an
instant their eyes met, but the next moment the man had turned, and
before Jack could get to him, he was lost in the crowd. He rushed
about here and there, but to his dismay, he could not find him.

"That was he, sure as guns," he thought, "and I believe he recognized
me."

He realized that his chances of finding him were virtually nil, and
with a heavy heart, he entered the restaurant, and after a hasty
supper, took a car for the ferry.

It was a very dark night, and a drizzling rain was falling as he
stepped on the ferryboat. There were not many people on board, and
what few there were, at once went into the cabin to escape the rain.
Jack, however, had on a raincoat and stood by the rail, watching the
lights of the passing boats, and thinking what hard luck it was to
find Reed so soon only to lose him again. The boat was about half-way
across the harbor, which is about a mile and a half wide, when Jack
felt himself seized from behind, and before he knew what had happened,
he was hurling through the air into the dark water below.




CHAPTER XI.

JACK IN TROUBLE.


It seemed to Jack that he plunged down to a great depth, and when he
finally rose to the surface, he was gasping for breath. His first
thought was to free himself from his raincoat, and as soon as this was
done, he struck out for the east side, as he thought he was a little
more than half way across. Although a powerful swimmer, the choppy
sea, caused by a brisk wind, and his clothing, which seemed to drag
him down, made his progress difficult. He weakened rapidly, and before
he was half way to the shore, fear struck him that he might not be
able to reach it. Raising himself as far out of the water as possible,
he looked about him, but it was very dark, and he could see but a few
feet. No help was at hand, and summoning all his strength, he started
to swim once more toward the lights, which now seemed farther away
than at first. But his strokes were now very weak and his progress
slow; still he kept doggedly on, for he was not a boy to give up so
long as a particle of strength remained.

After what seemed to him hours of struggle, he felt that he could keep
up but a few moments more, and a dread fear seized his heart as he
gave up hope. He thought not so much of himself, but of the father and
mother, who might never know what had happened to him, and the thought
nerved him to one more last effort.

"It's no use," he thought, after taking a few feeble strokes, "I can't
hold out any longer, I'm so tired."

He tried, but his arms seemed numb and utterly refused to obey his
will, and he was about to go under, when he felt himself seized by the
collar and in another moment, found himself lying on his back on the
bottom of a skiff, gasping for breath.

As he slowly began to recover his strength, he looked up and saw that
the boat contained two men, but he was unable to see their faces in
the darkness.

"Well, here's a rum go," he heard one of them say.

"Right you are," replied the other. "That chap was about all in, I
reckon. Lucky for him we came along when we did."

"He'd sure gone down in another minute," declared the first speaker,
"I'd never have seen him, it's so tarnational dark, if I hadn't
happened to hit him wid the oar."

"What'll we do with him?" asked the other.

"Dunno, guess we might's well take him to the hole; might have
something on him worth while," was the answer.

They evidently thought that the boy was unconscious, and, in fact, so
nearly played out was he, that he was unable to speak. The man at the
oars, began to row again and soon the light boat was going at a lively
pace, as they were rowing with the wind. Shortly, Jack became
conscious that they were passing under a wharf, as the pace became
slow, and occasionally the boat hit against the piling. The continued
in this way for perhaps ten minutes, and then he felt the bottom of
the boat grate on the shore.

"See if he's come to, Jake," whispered the man who had been rowing.

His companion reached over and shook him roughly by the arm.

"I'm very much obliged to you for pulling me out," said Jack, weakly.
"I sure thought it was all up with me."

"That's all right," said the man in a low voice. "Think ye can stand
up?"

"I don't know, but I guess so. I'll try."

Helped by the man, he succeeded in getting to his feet and crawled
over the side of the boat to the ground.

"I'm pretty wobbly," he gasped, "but I guess I'll be all right in a
few minutes."

"Here, Pete, you take hold of one arm and I'll take the other, and I
guess we'll get him along all right."

Jack stumbled along between the two men, for what seemed a long ways,
but which was in reality only a few rods. He was too tired to take
much notice of his surroundings, but soon saw, by the light of a dark
lantern, which one of the men carried, that they were passing between
heavy piles. Soon they came to a stone wall and it seemed to Jack that
they must be at the end of their journey, but as they came closer, the
light of the lantern showed a small hole, just large enough for a man
to creep through.

"I'll go first," said the man with the lantern, "then let the kid
follow."

He reached through and set the lantern down on the other side, and by
dint of much squeezing and grunting, managed to push himself through.

"Now you go, kid," ordered the other man.

Jack was much smaller than the man who had gone first and crawled
through without much difficulty, followed a moment later by the second
man.

"Now follow me, and mind you, keep close to the wall," whispered the
man who carried the lantern, "and don't ye make any noise."

Jack began to fear that he had fallen into evil hands, but there was
nothing for him to do but to obey and follow where they led.

The light was turned off, and they crept along in the darkness, Jack
keeping one hand against the wall for some distance, when the man who
led whispered, "Now, ye wait here a minute." Jack stopped, and in a
minute heard the man give four raps on what sounded like a door.
Almost instantly he heard a bolt shot back, and the next instant a
door was flung open, letting out a flood of light. By its rays he
could see that they were in a narrow passageway between two stone
abutments.

"What ye got there, Jake?" asked a woman's voice.

"Dunno," was the somewhat surly reply. "Some kid we pulled out the
harbor. Was about all in when we fished him out."

"Well, seems to me yer taking a mighty big risk fetching him in here,"
said the woman somewhat sharply.

"Now don't ye go to butting in, old woman," snapped the man. "I guess
me and Pete knows what we're about."

They had entered the room, and Jack tumbled into a chair, too tired to
stand up. He looked about him and saw that he was in a small room
with a low ceiling and dirty with what seemed the accumulation of
years. The woman who had admitted them might have been anywhere
between thirty and sixty years old, but so dirty and slack looking was
she, that it was impossible to guess her age any nearer. He now got a
good look, for the first time, at the men who had saved him, and saw
that their appearance was wholly in keeping with their surroundings.
The older of the two might have been sixty, while the younger was ten
or fifteen years his junior. Both had hard rough faces, and his heart
sank as he realized how completely he was in their power.

"Well, boy, have ye got yer wind back yet?" asked the older man.

"I guess so," replied Jack, "but I still feel pretty weak.

"S'pose so," grunted the man. "Now how'd ye get into the wet?"

"I was crossing on a ferryboat and some one came up behind me and
pushed me over."

"Pshaw, ye don't say so!" exclaimed the younger man. "Now what de ye
suppose he did that for?"

"I'm sure I don't know," replied Jack, and then as nothing more was
said for a moment, he continued, "I feel stronger now, and if you will
kindly show me to the street, I think I'll go, and," he added, taking
a pocketbook from his inside coat pocket, "if you'll take this
ten-dollar bill for your trouble, I'll still feel very thankful to you
for saving my life." From the look on the faces of the two men, as
they saw the pocketbook, he realized that he had made a grave mistake,
but it was too late now.

"Not so fast, sonny," said the older man, "don't ye think yer life is
worth more than ten dollars? Anyhow, Pete," he said, turning to the
other man, "I reckon we can make mor'n that out of him, eh?"

"Well, I'd hope so," was the reply.

"How much money ye got there, kid?" asked the man called Jake.

"About one hundred dollars," answered Jack, for he saw that they
intended to have it, "and I'll give it all to you if you'll let me go
now."

"What yer say, Pete?" asked Jake, but it was the woman who answered.

"Don't yer let him get away, Jake. Mebby his father'll think his
life's worth a lot mor'n one hundred dollars."

"Good for ye, old woman, mebby we can work that gag." Then, turning to
Jack, he asked, "Who's yer old man, boy?"

Jack hesitated a moment, and the man grabbed him roughly by the arm
and said, "Speak up now, and no funny business, we're not to be fooled
with."

Seeing that it would be useless to resist, he answered, "My father's
name is Golden, and he lives in Maine."

"Got any rocks?" eagerly asked the woman.

"A little, I suppose."

"Huh," she grunted, "I guess when a kid like you runs round with one
hundred dollars, and carrying a gold watch like this," she added,
taking it from his vest pocket, "his old man's got plenty more."

"Well, what do you intend to do with me?" asked Jack more boldly, for
he was not easily scared, and, realizing that he was in the hands of a
gang of harbor thieves, he had made up his mind to put on a bold
front, trusting to his luck to get away. But no one answered him.

"Where's Jim and Joe?" suddenly asked Jake, turning to the woman.

"Gone over to the city."

"When'll they be back?"

"Not much 'fore morning, likely. The boss sent for 'em; said that he
had a job on hand that might take all night."

He then turned to Jack, "Hungry?"

"No," replied Jack, "I had supper, but I'd like to get these wet
clothes off and lie down if you aren't going to let me go."

"Well, I s'pose they do feel kinder oneasy. Say, Mag, take him
upstairs and lock him in the middle room. He can take his duds off,
and they'll dry out by morning. I'm hungry's a bear and want supper,
quick."

"Seem's if you're always hungry," she growled, as she motioned Jack to
follow her. "I'll be back in a jiff, and supper'll be ready's soon I
can git it."

She led him up a flight of dark rickety stairs and, passing along a
narrow hallway, pushed him into a room, saying, "There's a cot there,
and ye can strip and wring out yer duds and they'll dry by morning.
But say, kid, don't yer try to get away, for take it from me, if Jake
catches ye trying anything, he'll do ye up for keeps."

She left him a small lamp with which she had lighted the way up, and
going out, closed and locked the door.

"Guess they forgot all about that one hundred dollars," thought Jack,
as he held up the light and looked about him. The room contained no
window, but there was a small opening in the ceiling, which seemed to
open into a room above. The only thing in the room was an old broken
cot.

"Well," he thought, as he set the light on the floor, "I wasn't long
in getting into trouble after I landed in Boston, that's sure; still I
don't see how I could have avoided it. It must have been that man Reed
who threw me over. He probably followed me, but I don't see why he
tried to kill me. Perhaps he thought I had a clue as to where Bob is,"
he mused.

While these thoughts were running through his mind, he had been taking
off his wet clothes. Stripping to the skin, he wrung out what water he
could, and then spread them out on the floor. "Good thing it's so
hot," he muttered, "or I'd get a fine cold, but I guess there's no
danger in here, as it's hot enough to fry eggs. Well, guess I might as
well take things as easy as possible."

The cot was covered with an old sheet, which, strangely enough, seemed
to be fairly clean, and wrapping it around him, he threw himself on
the cot, too tired even to think any more, and in spite of the heat,
was soon fast asleep.

He dreamed that he was in a baker's shop, where many workmen were
busily engaged baking bread. In some unaccountable manner, he was
changed into an immense loaf of bread, and although he tried his best
to tell the baker that he was a boy and not a loaf of bread, he was
thrown into the oven. The heat grew more and more intense, until
finally, when it seemed that he must be about done, he suddenly awoke.

"Well," was his first thought, "that was a funny dream." Then he sat
up, trying to think where he was. Soon remembrance returned, and with
a groan he sank back.

"Whew, but it's hot in here," he said to himself. "Don't believe I can
get to sleep again; guess I'll turn up the light and see if my clothes
are drying." As he stepped to the floor, the boards seemed almost hot
to his feet.

"Wonder what makes it so awful hot," he thought, as he turned up the
light. Just then, he thought he heard a faint snapping sound from
below, and an instant later, the odor of burning wood came to his
nostrils, while he saw thin puffs of smoke curling up through the
cracks of the floor.

"My goodness," he thought as he realized his position, "the house is
on fire and I'm locked in here!"




CHAPTER XII.

BOB BEGINS WORK ON A FAKE CELL.


About noon, the hunchback brought Bob's dinner to him, and two hours
later, King opened the door, saying, "Well, son, I guess I've got all
you'll need, and now I want you to get to work at once."

"All right, I suppose I might as well begin now as any time."

"Now, let me tell you something," continued King, as they started down
the stairs. "I know all about electricity and storage batteries and
I'm going to watch you every minute, and if you try to fool me and
don't make that cell right, I give you fair warning that it'll be the
worse for you."

Bob made no reply, but thought to himself, "If you can catch me before
the thing is done and tested, you're a good deal smarter than I think
you are." He fully realized that he was taking a desperate chance, for
he knew that the cell, as he was going to make it, would not work, for
he had tried one like it while he and Jack were experimenting. But he
had made up his mind not to give the secret away, trusting that an
opportunity to escape would present itself before he had finished. He
had also resolved to work as slowly and to take as long a time about
it as he dared.

King led the way down to the laboratory and showed him the things he
had bought. It would be tiresome to relate Bob's work in detail, and
we shall tell about only those parts that are necessary to the story.

He managed to use up that afternoon and the greater part of the next
day making one cap, but about four o'clock he had to declare that part
of the work done.

"Now, what's next?" asked King.

"We'll have to make another cap to go with this one."

"Are they both alike?"

"No, this one is positive and the other will have to be negative.
We'll begin on that one in the morning."

"Not much we won't," almost shouted King. "We'll start it right now,
and we ought to have it done by twelve o'clock tonight. I believe
you're loafing on the work anyway."

"Believe what you please," said Bob, mad clear through, "but I'll tell
you right now that I'm not going to work any more today, and what's
more you can't make me either."

"Can't, eh, we'll see about that," snapped King, coming toward Bob
with clenched fist.

Now, when Bob was real good and mad, he could be as stubborn as a
mule, and he was in exactly that condition now, regardless of
consequences. So, when King raised his fist as if to hit him, he
stepped back, saying in a firm tone, "You hit me just once, and I
won't do another bit of work on that thing if you kill me for it."

King dropped his fist, and the two looked each other in the eyes for a
full minute without speaking. "You'll work tonight or you'll get no
supper," he finally threatened.

"Get no supper, eh?" snapped Bob. "If I get no supper tonight,
there'll be no cell made tomorrow, just remember that," and then, as
King did not at once reply, he continued, "Now see here, no one yet,
except my parents, ever made me do a thing I'd made up my mind not to
do, and I've made it up good and hard, right now, and you can't make
me back down. You've got me in your power, and I suppose you can put
me out of the way if you want to, but that won't get you the cell, so
what are you going to do about it?"

King realized that he was licked, and gave in, with as good grace as
he could muster. "All right," he growled, "have your own way."

Bob was much relieved when he realized that he had won, for although
he had put up a bold front, he had by no means felt as confident as
his looks indicated. He spent the next forenoon getting the copper
cylinder and the tank ready for the electrolysis, telling King that he
had decided not to make the other cap till the cylinder was done,
although he could easily have done the work in an hour. After dinner
he dissolved the lead nitrate in water, poured the solution into the
tank, and adjusted the cap.

"Have you a piece of platinum foil?" he asked King.

"What do you want that for?"

"Why, you see I make this cylinder the positive pole of the circuit
and have to have the platinum for the negative."

"All right, I guess I can find a piece," he replied.

Bob hoped that he couldn't, and, as a matter of fact, he could have
used a piece of copper just as well, but, he thought, "if he will only
go out after some and leave me here, I might find a way to escape."
But, to his disappointment, it was soon forthcoming, and putting it in
place he was soon obliged to acknowledge that he was ready to turn on
the current.

"How much do you want?" asked King.

"One and four-tenths volts and six tenths of an ampere," replied Bob.

As the current was turned on, King watched the cylinder closely, and
soon he could see that a dark brown powder was collecting on the
outside.

"Hold on a minute," said Bob, "I forgot to insulate the outside of
that cylinder. Have you a piece of rubber tubing, large enough to slip
on over it?"

"I guess so, but it seems to me that you are all the time forgetting
something or other."

The correction was soon made, and the cylinder returned to the bath.
After the current had been running about half an hour, King purposed
that they take the cylinder out and see if they were getting any
results, as they could not see the inside of it while it was in the
tank. Glad of any delay, Bob readily assented, and as soon as it was
removed, it was seen that a very small amount of the powder had coated
the inside.

"Humph," growled King. "It's mighty slow. Won't it go faster if we use
more juice?"

"Yes," replied Bob, "but it will be too loose and spongy." This was
the truth, as he had found by experiment, and he was very glad that
this part of the work would have to go slowly, whether or no. When
supper time came, King proposed that they leave the current running
all night, but Bob wouldn't hear to it.

"No," he said, "I must be here to watch it, for I know what to expect
if it don't pan out, and much depends on how that peroxide of lead is
deposited. Either you turn off the current or I quit."

King knew from past experience that it would be useless to threaten
and grudgingly yielded the point. "Shall we take the cylinder out?" he
asked.

"Of course," replied Bob, "I thought you knew something about this
kind of work."

King muttered something about wanting to make sure, and leaving the
laboratory they went up to supper.

That night about ten o'clock, as Bob was lying on his bed trying, as
usual, to think of some way to escape, he heard the key turn in the
lock and the hunchback entered.

"Mr. King sent me up to tell you to go to sleep good and early for
he's going to call you at five o'clock."

"Oh, he did, did he?" returned Bob. "Well, you just tell him that I'll
go to sleep when I get good and ready and not a minute before. Do you
get that?"

While speaking, he had got off the bed and gradually approached the
hunchback. As he finished, he suddenly grabbed him round the neck, and
before the dwarf had time to defend himself, he was hurled to the far
side of the room. Bob made a quick dash for the door and in an instant
had it closed and locked behind him. Quickly, he turned and darted
down the stairs, but before he reached the next floor, he heard the
man shouting and pounding on the door. "I must hurry," he thought,
taking the next flight three steps at a time. He had reached the lower
floor and was unlocking the front door, when a door at his left flew
open and both King and Reed rushed out.

"What's all this?" demanded King; then as he saw who it was, he sprang
forward and grabbed Bob by the shoulders and roughly yanked him back.
"So you thought you'd give us the slip, did you? How'd you get out of
that room?"

Poor Bob's heart sank as he realized that his attempt was a failure,
and he made no reply.

"We'll soon find out," said King. "Come on now," and he made Bob
precede him up the stairs.

"You miserable runt," he shouted, as he unlocked the door and saw the
dwarf. "What does this mean?"

"Gee," replied the latter, "he jumped me so quick, I didn't know what
was up before he was out of the room and I was locked in."

"Don't blame him," broke in Bob, "it wasn't his fault."

"Well, the next time I send you up here, just deliver your message
through the door, do you understand?"

"I certainly do. I won't give him a chance to get hold of me again,"
declared the dwarf, rubbing his arm.

Bob was much cast down as they went out. "But I won't give up," he
thought as he was undressing. "But, confound it, I've got to do
something pretty soon for I'm not going to make that job pan out
nearly as long as I thought I could."

Before he slept that night, he had resolved upon a bold stroke for
liberty, which he was resolved to put into execution at the very first
opportunity.

About eight o'clock the next morning, Bob realized that his chance had
come. King was watching the cell while he was standing about three
feet to one side. Suddenly, Bob drew back his right arm and before
King could defend himself, he struck. The blow was a jim dandy, as Bob
afterward expressed it. It caught King fairly on the jaw and he went
down like a log, knocking over the tank as he fell. Bob quickly leaned
over him and took the key of the laboratory from his pocket, where he
had seen him put it several times.

"Now, if I can only get out," he thought as he unlocked the door and
stole softly up the stairs.




CHAPTER XIII.

BOB'S ESCAPE.


Bob's heart beat wildly as he crept up the stairs, for he had resolved
to let no one stop him if he could help it, knowing that it would go
hard with him if he again fell into King's hands. He reached the top
of the flight without hearing any one and quickly passed through the
dining room to the front hall, and for the second time since his
imprisonment, he was at the front door. The hall had a vestibule and
just as he succeeded in getting the inner door open he heard a key
turn in the outer door, and before he had time to dodge back, it swung
open and Reed entered.

Coming thus suddenly face to face, it would be hard to say which was
more at a loss what to do, but as soon as he could speak, Reed gasped,
"You?"

"Yes, me," answered Bob, "and if you don't step aside and let me pass,
some one is going to get hurt and don't you forget it."

"Where's Jim?" Reed demanded, shutting the door.

"What's left of him is down stairs, and I rather guess he'll stay
there a while."

As Bob had taken the precaution to lock the door of the laboratory
after he came out and had the key in his pocket, he felt that he had
little to fear from that quarter for a time at least, even if King had
come to.

"Your little game is up," he continued, "and you might as well step
aside and save trouble and perhaps your head as well."

"Think so?" sneered Reed, and Bob saw him reach his hand back toward
his hip pocket and before he was able to spring forward, he was
looking into the barrel of a .32.

"Now, my young friend, I rather guess you will reconsider your
conclusion. I don't want to hurt you, but I'd much prefer putting a
bullet through you to letting you get away. Now, about face and march
down to the laboratory again, and no monkey shines, or this here gun
will be apt to go off, for when I get excited, my finger gets twitchy,
and remember, if it does go off, the bullet will come out of the end
that's pointing at you."

All this had probably not taken over a minute, but during that time,
Bob had been doing some quick thinking and had resolved that, gun or
no gun, he was not going to lose this chance. They passed out into the
dining room, Reed following Bob at a distance of perhaps six feet.
Reaching the door, at the head of the stairs, Bob pretended that he
was trying to open it.

"It seems to be locked," he said, "Guess the wind must have blown it
shut."

"Well, hold on a minute, I've got a key in my pocket."

Bob turned and saw that Reed had lowered the revolver a little as he
searched his pocket for the key. It was the chance he wanted. Like a
flash he leaped, and before the startled man could raise his arm, his
wrist was seized and given a powerful twist, which sent the revolver
spinning to the other side of the room. Reed, maddened to the point of
frenzy, struggled with all his strength, and he was no mean
antagonist, but Bob knew that he was fighting for his liberty, if not
for his life, and fought as he had never fought before. Round the room
they struggled, knocking over the chairs as they fought. Once the man
got the boy down on his back, and with his hand on his throat, began
to choke him, but Bob managed to squirm over, and, getting to his
knees, flung one arm round Reed's neck, and giving a powerful twist
made him lose his hold. Both quickly rose to their feet and stood
facing each other, panting for breath. Suddenly, catching sight of the
revolver on the floor near his feet, Reed made a move toward it. But
the movement gave Bob the chance he wanted, and, springing forward,
he swung his right arm with all the strength he could muster. His fist
landed squarely on the man's right eye, and he went down in a heap. He
was not knocked out, but the blow gave Bob time to grab up the
revolver, and by the time Reed was on his feet again, he took his turn
at looking down the barrel.

"Now, my old friend, I guess I'll have to ask you to recognize that
conclusion you spoke of a few moments ago. This thing don't look quite
so good at that end, does it? Give my regards to your friend below, if
you can get enough life in him to accept them."

So saying, he backed out of the room into the hall, still pointing the
revolver at the man, who stood looking daggers at him, but not daring
to move, and this time reached the street without mishap.

"Whew!" he thought, as he slipped the revolver into his pocket, "that
was some exciting time while it lasted. Well, I'm free at last and
I'll take mighty good care that they don't get me again. Wonder which
way I'd better go?"

Although well acquainted with a good part of Boston, as he looked
about him he had no idea in what part of the city he was, except that
it was one of the poorer districts.

Coming to the harbor front, he turned toward the south, judging that
the ferry was in that direction. He had gone but a few squares, when
he heard the cry of fire, and glancing down a side street which led to
the water's edge, he saw a number of men and boys running toward an
old house near the water and about a square from where he was
standing.

"Guess I'll see what's doing," he thought as he turned and started to
run down the street.

Coming opposite the house, which stood somewhat apart by itself, he
saw that it was a three-story frame structure, and the flames were
already visible through the windows of the first floor, while smoke
was pouring from those of the first and second stories.

"It won't last ten minutes," said a man standing next to him, "the
walls will fall in before the fire engine gets here."

"Are the people all out?" asked Bob.

"Dunno, guess so. Don't see any one, do you?"

But, at that moment, a figure appeared at a front third-story window
and shouted for help. At the sound of the voice, Bob's heart almost
stopped beating, and shading his eyes with his hand, he gazed eagerly
upward. "It can't be possible," he thought, "but that was Jack's voice
sure as guns, and what's more, it looks like him." Just then, the boy
gave another wild cry for help.

"My soul, that's Jack," he groaned, "sure as fate. Quick," he shouted,
"where's a ladder?"

The cry was taken up by the crowd, and in a minute, a man pushed his
way through the crowd, carrying a fairly long ladder. Eager hands
seized it and raised it toward the boy, but alas for their hopes, it
reached only to the middle of the second story window, too short by
nearly eight feet. Bob gave a groan, but just then he saw a store on
the opposite side of the street, and rushing across, he darted in. "A
coil of rope," he shouted, but there was no one there. Just at that
moment, however, a man rushed in, and hearing Bob's cry, darted to the
back part of the store, to return almost instantly, dragging about
twenty feet of rope after him. Snatching the end of the rope from his
hand, Bob rushed back across the street rapidly coiling it as he ran.
By the time he reached the foot of the ladder the smoke and flames
were pouring from the windows in great clouds and the entire front of
the house was tottering.

"Can't do it," shouted a man, "it'll fall before you can get up."

"I'm going to do it anyway," muttered the boy as he started to ascend.

The heat was terrific, and the smoke nearly choked him, but he fought
his way upward rung by rung. It seemed that he would never reach the
top, as the rungs of the ladder were so hot they fairly blistered his
hands and the walls threatened to fall at any moment, but he did it,
and bracing himself by putting one foot through the ladder, he grasped
one end of the rope in his right hand, holding the coil in his left.

"Now, Jack, catch it," he shouted.

"Great guns, Bob, how'd you get here?"

"Never mind now, catch this rope," and he threw it up toward the
window with all the strength he had left, which was not very much. By
rare good fortune Jack caught it.

"Quick, now, fasten it to something, this wall won't last much
longer."

Jack disappeared for what seemed to Bob a long time, but at last he
saw him at the window again.

"I've got it," he shouted.

"All right, now, come down while I hold this end."

Jack swung himself from the window and came down the rope hand over
hand and soon had his feet on the top rung of the ladder.

"Now, quick, we haven't a second to lose," cried Bob, as he started to
descend. "Are you all right?"

"Sure thing, look out, I'm coming," shouted Jack.

By this time several of the rungs were on fire, and two or three broke
as Bob stepped on them, but he managed to keep his hold, and, reaching
the ground, looked up to see Jack half way down. But, now the ladder
was so weakened that, as the boy stepped on to the next rung, it
swayed and broke fairly in two, and at that instant, the entire front
of the building fell in with a tremendous crash.

Jack, however, was safe. He had felt the ladder, as well as the wall,
going and had managed to throw himself backward away from the burning
building. He fell only about eight feet and landed on his feet unhurt.
Running quickly back, away from the intense heat, the two boys hugged
each other in a frenzy of joy, while the crowd set up a great shout of
gladness.

"You saved my life, old man, but for mercy sakes, how did you get
here?"

"It's too long a story to tell now," replied Bob, "let's try to get
out of this crowd."

Although many tried to detain them, the two boys managed to slip away
just as a fire engine, with a great ringing of bells, dashed on to the
scene.




CHAPTER XIV.

ON THE KIDNAPPER'S TRAIL.


The two boys were pretty well tired out from the strain through which
they had just passed and they both had several bad burns on their
hands, which, now that the excitement was over, began to assert
themselves. They had not walked far when they saw a small park, where
were some benches, and Jack proposed that they sit down and rest up a
bit. As he knew that Bob had been taken to Boston, naturally the
latter was the more surprised of the two on seeing his brother there,
and as soon as they were seated on a bench Bob said:

"Now, Jack, tell me all about it, quick, and then I'll give you an
account of my racket."

So Jack, starting from the time Bob disappeared, told him all that had
happened. When he reached the point where we left him, he said:

"I tell you what, Bob, when I found that those rascals had varmoused
and left me locked in that burning house, I was scared. I pounded on
the door and yelled till I was hoarse and when no one came I was
about ready to give up. By this time the room was pretty full of
smoke, and my eyes smarted so that I could hardly keep them open and
the floor was so hot, that I had to fairly dance, and it was getting
hotter every minute. I had managed to get my clothes on by this time
and started to see if I could kick a hole in the door, but it was too
strong and I could make no impression on it."

"Couldn't you cut a hole in it with your knife?" asked Bob.

"I thought of that, but I had lost my knife somewhere. Well, just as I
thought that all hope was gone, I remembered that there was a hole
about two feet square in the ceiling at one end of the room. It was
fully eight feet from the floor, but I took the cot and leaned it
against the wall and managed, by climbing up on it, to reach the edge
of the opening and climb up through. I found myself in an empty room
running the entire length of the house. There was a stairway at the
other end and I ran to it, but the smoke was pouring up in clouds and
I could see that the stairs were ablaze and the room below full of
fire, so I didn't dare to risk it. I thought then it was all up with
me, but it was a little cooler up there and I managed to get one of
the front windows open, and you know the rest. I tell you, Bob, old
man, you never looked so good to me as you did coming up that ladder
with the rope in your hand. I think I should have jumped in another
two minutes. But, now tell me all about yourself. Where have you been
and how did you get away?"

Then Bob gave him a full account of his adventures and when he told
how he had hit Reed on the nose, Jack said, "Good enough for him, wish
I'd been there." Then, when Bob had finished, he asked, "But why do
you suppose Reed pushed me overboard? It must have been he."

"Of course it was," answered Bob, "there's no one else who would do it
except King and it couldn't have been he, for he was with me at the
time. I suppose he saw you, and thinking you might make trouble for
them, he probably thought he would dispose of you."

"I guess that's about the way of it, leastwise, that's the way I
figured it out. Hello, there's a cop; suppose we ask him where we
are."

They soon learned that they were only about a half mile from the
station, and as they were well rested, they decided that they would go
there and take the train for their Uncle Ben's in Winthrop.

Reaching the station, they found a train about to leave, and in less
than a half hour, they were getting off at Winthrop Beach. Uncle Ben's
house was but a few minutes' walk from the station and soon they were
ringing the bell, and their Aunt Lucy answered it.

"Why, it's Bob and Jack," she cried as she saw them. "Where did you
come from? My, but I'm glad to see you," and without giving them time
to speak, she grabbed one in each arm and gave them a good hug and
kiss.

"Where's Uncle Ben?" asked Bob as soon as he could get the question
in.

"He had to go to the bank, but I expect him out on the next train, as
he said he was only going to stay a little while. But there, I'll bet
you haven't had any lunch and are as hungry as two young bears. Come
right in and we'll have something to eat in less than no time."

"How are all the folks?" asked Aunt Lucy, as they sat down.

"Fine and dandy," replied Jack, "but my goodness, Bob, we must call
them up right off. Can I use the 'phone, auntie?"

The 'phone was in the front hall and Jack was gone some little time,
but at last he returned. Just as they began to eat, the door opened
and Uncle Ben entered the room. He was no less delighted to see the
boys than Aunt Lucy had been, and the meal was a merry one. The boys
said nothing regarding their adventures till the lunch was over, then
Bob said:

"Uncle Ben, we've got quite a long story to tell you."

"Is that so? Well, fire away."

So Bob began and told them all about their adventures. He was
interrupted many times by expressions of horror and indignation from
Uncle Ben and Aunt Lucy.

"Well, of all the happenings," declared Uncle Ben, when he had
finished. "Say, Bob, do you think you can find that house where they
had you?"

"Yes, I think so. It was in East Boston, 54 Uhl street. I noticed the
number of the house and the street as I ran out."

"That's in one of the worst sections of the city," declared Uncle Ben.
"Now, boys, if you are not too tired we must take the next train to
the city and report this to the police, and we may be in time to catch
them. The scoundrels, they must be caught and punished if possible;
it's not safe to have them at large."

Both boys declared that they were not tired, and, as the next train
left in about fifteen minutes, they started at once.

In a short time they reached East Boston and took the ferry across.

"It must have been here that I went overboard," said Jack as they were
about half way across, and he shuddered as he looked down at the
water. "I wouldn't want to go through that again."

"I should say not," said Uncle Ben. "Oh, by the way, Jack, you didn't
see either of those fellows round the house after the fire, did you?"

"No, I never thought a thing about them."

"Well, they ought to be found and locked up, for they undoubtedly
intended to rob you, and were probably going to make your father pay a
big sum of money."

"Yes, I guess that's so," agreed Jack, "but then they saved my life
and I'd rather call it square."

"Well, if that's the way you feel about it," said Uncle Ben, "we won't
say anything to the captain about them."

Reaching the other side of the harbor, they lost no time in getting a
car, which took them to State street, where was the police station of
which Uncle Ben's friend was captain.

"Is Captain Long in?" he asked a sergeant, who was sitting at the desk
as they entered.

"I think so, sir, please wait a moment and I'll see." Touching a bell
on his desk, he ordered the attendant to see if the captain was in his
office.

"Right, sir," said the man going out.

He was back in a minute, and telling them that Captain Long would see
them at once, conducted them through several rooms into his private
office.

"Why, hello Ben," greeted a large broad-shouldered man, wearing the
uniform of a police captain, as they were ushered into the room. "Come
to give yourself up?"

"Not just yet, Harry. These are my two nephews from Maine," he said,
introducing the boys, "I think likely you've seen them around my
house, but I guess you've never met them."

The captain expressed himself as pleased to know them, and then
motioning them to sit down, asked:

"Now, what can I do for you?"

"Well, Harry," answered Uncle Ben, "these two youngsters have been
through enough to turn your hair gray." Then turning to Bob, he said:
"Tell him your story as quickly as you can, for every minute may
count."

So, for the third time that day Bob gave an account of his kidnapping,
only this time he made it as brief as possible. The captain said
nothing till he had finished, but they could see that he was not
losing a word.

"Give me as careful a description of those two men as you can," he
ordered, and Bob obeyed.

"This is indeed serious," said the captain, turning to Mr. Golden when
Bob had finished. "I'll bet you my cap that the smaller of the two men
is Jim the Penman, and if that's right, he is one of the most wanted
men in the country today. Why, there's a reward of $10,000 for him,
and that other fellow may be Oily Joe; they have worked together a
good bit and are two of the most expert counterfeiters in the world.
The two of them have given us a lot of trouble. I'm mighty glad you
came to me, although I'm afraid it's too late, as they've probably
skipped, but we'll make a try for them and it's possible we may be on
time."

He touched a button on his desk, and an officer entered.

"Have the patrol out at once with six of the best men available," he
ordered, "Report to me here. Let's see," he said, as the man saluted
and retired, "you said 54 Uhl street. That's over across the ferry."

In less than two minutes a knock sounded and at the captain's "come
in," six uniformed policemen entered. Quickly, he explained the
situation to them and gave his orders.

"The driver will let you out about two squares this side of the house,
and I'll be there by the time you are, and tell you how to arrange
things."

He gave them the address and saluting, they left the room.

"Don't lose a minute," he shouted as the last man went out.

"Now," said Captain Long, turning to Mr. Golden and the boys, "don't
you want to come along with me in my car?"

"We sure do," cried both boys together, and even Uncle Ben seemed no
less anxious.

"All right then, this way," and he led them out to the street.

His car, a powerful two-seated machine, stood in front of the station
house, the chauffeur dozing on the front seat, but he sprang to
activity as he heard the captain's voice.

Quickly, they entered the machine, Captain Long giving the direction
to the driver, and just as they started, the patrol whizzed by, the
horses at full gallop.




CHAPTER XV.

THE COUNTERFEITER'S DEN.


They passed the patrol just as they reached the ferry and all crossed
together. Reaching the other side, the machine soon distanced the
patrol, and, after running for about ten minutes, the captain told the
driver to stop and the car drew up at the curb.

"The place is only two squares away," he explained, "and we'll wait
here for the patrol."

It came dashing up in a few moments and the men got out.

"Now, two of you go round by Clear street, and come up by the back
way," ordered the captain, "and two more go up Clover a couple of
blocks and then turn down Front, which will bring you to the front of
the house. The rest of you wait here a few moments, and then go
straight there and we'll follow about a square behind. Now, don't make
any noise till we are all there, but if you see any one leave the
house, arrest him at once."

Four of the men saluted and started off in the directions ordered,
and, after waiting five minutes, the other two left, followed a moment
later by the captain and the Goldens. Arriving at the house, they
found the four officers there.

"Are the others round back?" asked the captain.

"Yes, sir," answered one of the men.

"See any one?"

"No, sir."

"All right then, you wait here and I'll ring the bell." This he did,
but no one answered the summons.

"Guess they've skipped," said one of the men.

After ringing several times, Captain Long said:

"Two of you stay here and the rest of us will go round to the rear,
and see if we can get in without smashing a door, and," he added,
"keep an eye on those side windows."

They found the two officers waiting at the rear.

"Seen anything?" asked Captain Long.

"Not a thing," was the reply.

They found the back door locked with the key on the inside, and,
remarking that he guessed they would have to break a window, the
captain took a small diamond glass cutter from his pocket and
scratched a circle about six inches in diameter on the window pane,
just above the catch. A quick push shoved it in, and reaching his hand
through, he soon had the window open.

"Now, Bill," he said, turning to one of the men, "you jump in and
unlock the door."

"In a minute they were in the house, and passing through to the front
door, admitted the others. Leaving one man on guard at the front door,
another at the rear, while a third was stationed in the middle room,
the rest made a thorough search of the upper part of the house. But,
to their disappointment, they found no one. They returned to the first
floor and the captain said:

"Now we'll go down to the basement."

Bob found the room looking about as he had left it earlier in the day,
except that King was no longer there. He showed them the cylinder, on
which he had been at work, and which he found lying on the floor. They
made a careful search of the room, but found nothing of an
incriminating nature and were about to return upstairs, when Jack, had
been looking over a desk in one corner of the room shouted:

"Come over here a minute, I believe I've found something."

He had noticed a piece of paper lying partly concealed, under one
corner of the desk and had moved it slightly to get the paper without
tearing it, when he noticed a break in the flooring, and on moving the
desk a little farther, he saw a small ring in the floor.

"I believe there's a trap door here," he declared as they came over to
where he was.

It was but a moment's work to shove the desk out of the way, and sure
enough, there was a trap door about two feet square. One of the
officers took hold of the ring, and a second later they were gazing
down into a pitch-black hole. Captain Long kneeled down and flashed
the light from an electric torch into the space below.

"Jove," he shouted, "here's a find sure enough; I'm going down and the
rest of you follow."

It was a large room about twenty feet long by twelve feet wide. The
walls were of brick, and so far as they could see, there was no break
in them. The room was lighted by several incandescent electric lights,
which one of the men had turned on. Looking around, they found that
the room contained an electric furnace, such as is used for melting
bullion, a small printing press, and several other pieces of
machinery, which the captain recognized as pertaining to the making of
counterfeit money. They also found several dies for stamping quarters
and half dollars, as well as a number of plates for printing bills of
ten and twenty dollar denominations. Several pounds of lead and
copper, together with a smaller amount of silver and gold was also
found.

"I'm mighty sorry that we didn't get the rascals," declared Captain
Long, "but this find is well worth our while."

He started to mount the ladder, telling the others to follow him, when
a very astonishing thing happened. Suddenly the trap door banged down
and at the same time the lights went out, while a mocking laugh
sounded from above. Quickly, the captain sprang up the ladder, and
bracing himself, pushed with all his strength against the door, but it
did not so much as budge.

"We're trapped, sure as fate," he said, as he gave it up and came down
the ladder. "Where do you suppose those fellows were hid all the
time?"

"They probably had some secret hiding place which we didn't find,"
declared Mr. Golden.

"I guess that's about the size of it. Here, Bill, I guess you and Fred
are the strongest, you two get up on that ladder and see if you can
make any impression on that door. I wonder how, in the name of all
that's funny, they have fastened it, for I didn't see any lock on it."

The two officers did as ordered, but in spite of their most strenuous
efforts, they could make no impression on it. They did, however, make
a most decided impression on the ladder, for suddenly it broke near
the middle, and the two came tumbling down in a heap. Fortunately,
they were not hurt by the fall and laughed as they picked themselves
up.

"Well, we're in a pretty fix, sure enough," declared Captain Long. "I
should have left one of you on guard, but I never thought of those
fellows being in hiding there after the way we searched the place.
It's a good thing I left word at the station where we were going, but
the rest of the force will sure have the laugh on us."

"Say, do you smell anything?" suddenly asked Bob.

"Seem's though I do," replied two of the officers sniffing.

No one spoke for a moment and then Captain Long said:

"My God, men, that's coal gas and it's getting stronger every minute.
Those devils have turned it in here somehow. Quick," he almost
shouted, "we've got to get out of here at once or we'll all be dead
men in less than ten minutes."

By this time the odor of the gas was very strong and was rapidly
getting stronger. Several of the officers were equipped with electric
torches, and using them, they made a hurried search of the walls to
see if by chance there was any opening which they had overlooked
before, but nothing of the kind could they find.

"Gee, but I'm getting sleepy," said one of the men.

"We'll all be worse than sleepy in about a minute," groaned another.

"Well," spoke up Mr. Golden, "It's hard to die penned up like this,
but if it's God's will, let us meet it like men."

"Oh, what'll my poor wife and babies do?" groaned the man who had
spoken before.

But little more was said. Bob got hold of Jack's hand and whispered:

"It'll be an easy death, old man."

"I know," replied Jack. "I'm not afraid, but I do wish we could see
the folks."

The deadly gas was rapidly getting in it's work, and three of the
officers were already stretched on the floor, while the others were
breathing heavily. Bob's head was swimming and he knew that he would
be unconscious in another moment. He stretched himself out on the
floor, putting one arm around the neck of Jack, who was already lying
down. The other arm he stretched out along the floor, and as he did
so, suddenly his fingers felt an iron ring. Hardly knowing what he
did, he began to pull on it. To his surprise, he felt it give, and
summoning all his remaining strength, he rose to his knees and gave a
quick yank to it. A trap door opened, letting in a rush of cool fresh
air. It partially revived him and he shouted.

"Quick, here's a way out."

Only Mr. Golden and the captain were conscious, and they dragged
themselves, as quickly as possible, to the opening.

The inrush of air had cleared the gas away from the open door
somewhat, and Mr. Golden had strength enough to whisper:

"You and the captain go down the hole quickly and I'll try to pass the
others down to you."

Quickly lowering himself over the edge, Bob found himself in a passage
way about three feet wide where the air was perfectly fresh, and
coming through with a strong draft. He felt much stronger at once. In
an instant, the captain had followed him, dragging Jack with him.

"I'm afraid we'll never be able to get them all out," he gasped, "but
this draft is carrying the gas out and it's not so bad as it was."

Mr. Golden succeeded in dragging two of the men to the opening, where
they were grabbed by Bob and the captain, and dragged a few feet along
the passageway. But now his strength gave out, and as Bob grabbed the
third man and pulled him through, Mr. Golden fell unconscious half way
through the opening. The captain caught him and dragged him through
and Bob said:

"I'll get the rest."

Without waiting for a reply, he lifted himself through the opening, an
electric torch in his hand. The gas had been driven out so that it
was not so very bad, and he soon succeeded in getting the last man
out. As he again lowered himself through the opening, he closed the
trap door after him. Jack and three of the men, as well as Mr. Golden
had, by this time, somewhat revived, and in a short time two others
came to and were able to sit up, but the last one brought out still
lay as one dead.

"Now, let's see where this passage leads to," said Captain Long, "but
two of you stay with Ed and keep moving his arms up and down and I
guess he'll come round all right."

The rest started forward, by the light of their torches, and after
walking about a block, they came to a flight of stone steps. Mounting
these they found themselves in the kitchen of an old house, which
seemed to be deserted.

"Two of you fellows go back and get the rest and we'll wait here,"
ordered Captain Long.

In a short time they returned with the others. The man called Ed had
revived, but was not able to walk, and two of the officers had carried
him through the passageway.

"We were certainly fortunate to get out of that alive," declared Uncle
Ben, solemnly.

"Indeed we were," agreed Captain Long. "If Bob hadn't hit on that ring
just when he did, we'd all been past help by this time." Then, turning
to the officers, he asked, "How are you fellows feeling now?"

All declared that they were all right, with the exception of Ed, who
was still pretty weak.

"All right then, one of you take him to the patrol and the rest of us
will go back to that house and see if we can find those fellows this
time."




CHAPTER XVI.

BUT THE BIRDS HAD FLOWN.


As they were on the way back to the house, Jack turned to Bob, who was
walking beside him and said:

"I hope to goodness that our adventures for today are about through. I
tell you what, coming so near to death twice in one day is a bit too
strenuous to suit me."

They soon reached the house and entered by the front door, which they
found unlocked, with drawn revolvers. The room smelled strongly of
gas, but they quickly opened the windows, and it was soon nearly all
driven out. They searched the house as before, but with no success and
finally came to the laboratory. Here the gas was pretty bad, but one
of the officers soon found where it was turned on and shut it off.
They were, however, unable to find the secret hiding place of the
counterfeiters, although they searched for some time. At last the
captain said:

"Well, I guess we'll have to give it up for now, but I'm going to
leave two of you men here to keep watch, and I'll send some one to
relieve you as soon as I get back to the station." Then, turning to
Mr. Golden, "We might as well be going now, I'm not going to have that
stuff down there removed till tomorrow."

On their way back Bob said that they must take the night train for
home, as their parents would be anxious to see them, but Uncle Ben
said:

"Your Aunt Lucy and I intended to run down to Skowhegan in a few days
anyway, and if you'll wait till morning, we'll all go together in the
car. We'll telephone as soon as we get back to the house and then
we'll get an early start tomorrow. What do you say?"

The boys eagerly agreed to this plan, and by the time it was settled
they were at the ferry where they said goodby to Captain Long.

The latter went at once to the station house and sent out a general
alarm for the apprehension of the counterfeiters, but we will say here
that they were not caught.

On their way to Winthrop, Uncle Ben asked the two boys to say nothing
to Aunt Lucy regarding their narrow escape, as it would worry her, and
they promised to be careful and not let it out in her hearing.

It was nearly suppertime when they reached home, and Jack at once
called up his father and told him of their plans, while Bob gave his
aunt an account of their afternoon's trip, carefully avoiding,
however, any mention of their being locked in the counterfeiter's den.

"It's too bad they escaped," she said when he had finished.

Uncle Ben then told her of their plans for the morrow, and she said
she guessed she could get ready in time, although it was pretty short
notice.

As the boys were very tired after such a strenuous day, they were in
bed before nine o'clock.

"We want to be off by six o'clock," shouted Uncle Ben, as they went up
stairs, "and I'll have to pull you out by five."

"All right," answered Jack, "we'll be ready."

After they were undressed they did not forget to kneel down by the bed
and thank their heavenly Father for His care over them.

"George, but this has been some exciting day," declared Jack as he
tumbled into bed, closely followed by Bob. "I don't think I would care
to go through that mess again."

"I should say not," agreed Bob, "we might not get off so lucky next
time. I don't believe we'll ever be any nearer death again, till our
time comes, than we were this afternoon."

"I guess you're right there," then suddenly, "Say, Bob, do you suppose
we've seen the last of those two fellows?"

"Hard to tell, but I sure hope so. I'd feel a good bit better if we'd
caught them this afternoon."

"Same here," came sleepily from Jack.

They were too tired to talk any longer and were soon fast asleep.

They were still sleeping soundly, when a little before five o'clock,
their uncle awoke them.

"It's too bad to wake you, boys," he said, "but breakfast is almost
ready, and we've got to be off in about an hour."

They were soon dressed and running downstairs found a hearty breakfast
awaiting them, to which they did full justice.

Mr. Golden's car was a big roomy Lozier, and by six o'clock they were
off. They took the chauffeur with them, although the boys, taking
turns, drove the greater part of the way. They reached Portland by
eleven o'clock, and stopped there for dinner. When nearly to
Waterville, about twenty-five miles from the cottage, a tire blew out,
but as this was their only mishap, they did not complain, and a new
one was quickly substituted. The run up from the latter city was made
in a little over an hour, and they reached the cottage shortly after
six o'clock. The boys were greeted as heroes by their parents and the
girls, and there was great rejoicing over their safe return, old Mike
coming in for his share, the tears fairly rolling down his cheeks as
he grasped their hands saying:

"Begorra and I always did say you byes had more lives nor a cat, and
all ways were sure to land on your fate."

While eating supper, Bob and Jack in turn, gave a full account of
their adventures, except that they said nothing about being so nearly
killed by gas, and their mother's face paled as she realized how
nearly she had lost one, if not both of her boys. When they had
finished, their father said:

"We must keep a sharp lookout for those rascals, although I hardly
think they will dare to show up here again."

"Say, dad," asked Jack, "where's that detective?"

"We haven't seen or heard from him since you left," answered his
father.

Uncle Ben agreed with his brother that the boys should be very
careful, saying:

"There's been a lot in the papers about those fellows, that is if
they're the ones we think they are, and they have a reputation for
daring that has seldom been equaled."

"Well," remarked Bob, "I hope they keep away, as I've had all of their
company that I care about for a while at least."

"Same here," agreed Jack, "but I say, it's mighty funny what's got
that Sharp detective."

He had hardly spoken when the doorbell rang, and as the maid opened it
the detective walked in. When he saw Bob his eyes stuck out, as Jack
after expressed it, as large as saucers.

"Well, I'll be blowed," he cried, "where in the world did you come
from?"

And then the story had to be told over again.

"Well, I'll be blessed," uttered the detective, when they had
finished, "Guess I'm getting too old for a job of this kind. Here I've
been working night and day, and have scoured the country for a
distance of twenty miles in every direction, and didn't get a smell,
and you," turning to Jack, "find him first whack off the reel."

"I didn't find him," declared Jack, "He found me," and he added, "it
was a mighty lucky find for me."

Mr. Sharp seemed very much downcast, but Mr. Golden assured him that
he was sure that he had done all that any one could have done.

"You, of course, didn't know that he had been taken to Boston, and the
two boys meeting as they did was a coincidence, which wouldn't happen
twice in a thousand years. No, you needn't reproach yourself in the
least."

After this the detective felt much better, but remarked that it was
the third time in his twenty years as a detective that he had been
beaten.

Uncle Ben then proposed that they take a run across the lake in the
Sprite and get their trunk, which they had sent by express, and which
ought to be at the hotel. The women folks decided that they wouldn't
go, so Mr. Golden, Uncle Ben, Mr. Sharp, who wanted to catch the night
train for Boston, and the two boys, composed the crew.

"So that's the wonderful cell that all the trouble has been about, is
it?" asked Uncle Ben, as they started. "Well, it certainly is a big
thing and I'm proud of you boys."

On the way across, they told Mr. Golden of their narrow escape in the
counterfeiter's den, and why they had kept silent about it at the
table. He shuddered, as he realized how near death they had been and
said that they had done just right in not letting their mother and
aunt know about it, and Mr. Sharp declared that he was going to take
up the search for them as soon as he got to Boston.

They obtained the trunk, and saying goodby to the detective and
wishing him good luck, started back for the cottage, which they
reached about nine o'clock, and, as they were all tired, they soon
retired for the night.

The boys spent the next day sailing on the lake with the girls, while
their father and uncle went down to Skowhegan, having some business
to attend to. Late in the afternoon the four young people went fishing
and, in a short time, caught a good mess which they had for supper.

That night, as the boys were getting ready for bed, Jack suddenly
said:

"I say, Bob, what's the trouble with fitting up our motorcycles with
electric motors and running them with the cells?"

"Just the thing! Wonder why we didn't think of that before."

"Huh, that's easy, guess we've had our minds fairly full of something
else, lately."

"That's a fact, we have," agreed Bob, "We'll go down on the wheels,
first thing in the morning and see what we can do. I guess likely we
can get the motors at Watson's, and if we can make it a go, we'll have
some bikes."

Right after breakfast the next morning, they got their motorcycles out
and in less than fifteen minutes, were in Watson's store in Skowhegan.
Fortunately, he had two small motors, of ten horsepower each, on hand,
which seemed to the boys to be just what they wanted, and asking him
to send them up to the house at once, they were soon in the laboratory
hard at work.

"You start on a couple sets of caps, Jack, and I'll get the
electrolysis apparatus going and fill a few cylinders," Bob had said
as soon as they got there. By noon, Jack had the caps done, as he had
everything at hand to work with and knew how to do it, and by five
o'clock, they had taken the engines apart and had the wheels all ready
for the installation of the motors.

"Come on now and get washed up," called Bob, as he shut down the
dynamo and took out two cylinders, which, he was pleased to see, were
full. "That's eight we've filled today, but come get a move, we must
catch that five o'clock car or we'll be late to supper."

Edna and May met them at the wharf, in the Sprite, and by six-thirty
they were eating supper and telling the family about their day's work.




CHAPTER XVII.

THE NEW ELECTRIC MOTORCYCLE.


Bright and early the next morning found the boys hard at work again.
They were very skillful at this kind of work, and by three o'clock the
motors were clamped in place, the cylinders installed and everything
ready for a tryout. The current was turned on by twisting the
left-hand grip and, as that controlled the entire running part, it was
very simple.

"My goodness, Bob," said Jack, as he straightened up, after making the
last connection, "I'll bet these machines don't weigh more than half
as much as they did before."

"No, I guess they don't. These motors are very light compared with the
gasoline engines, and they're what made the most of the weight. Now,
let's take them out on the road and see how they'll go."

Wheeling the machines out by the basement door, they were soon on the
road in front of the house.

"Well, here goes," cried Jack, jumping into the saddle and giving the
grip a slight turn.

Off he went up the road, followed a moment later by Bob. The wheels
ran perfectly and with no noise except the low humming of the motors,
which could be heard, but a few feet away. They were going at about
twenty-five miles an hour and were using but a small part of their
power.

"Say, old man," shouted Bob, as he rode up beside his brother, "this
is going some, eh?"

"It sure is," was the reply. "It beats the old gasoline engines all to
pieces. I wonder how fast they will go?"

"Shouldn't wonder if they would hit a hundred, but there's a good
stretch, let's let 'em out a little and see what they'll do."

Slowly twisting the grips, they increased their speed till Bob
declared that they were going fully a mile a minute, which he declared
was plenty fast enough for him. But, even then they had not used
nearly all their power. They were delighted with the result of their
work, and as they slowed down, Jack said:

"This must be about the next thing to flying."

"I guess it is," agreed Bob, "but next summer if father'll let us,
we'll do some real flying. I say, son, do you realize what these cells
will mean to an airplane? Just think of the great decrease in weight
and the increase in power."

"Sure thing," replied Jack, no less enthusiastically, "but we better
be getting back now."

They had ridden some five or six miles out into the country and were
passing through a piece of woods, but now brought their wheels to a
stop just after rounding a curve in the road.

"Yes, I guess we had better be getting back," agreed Bob, "It's nearly
four now," he added, looking at his watch. "Let's see how long it
takes us; we ought to make it in about eight minutes."

They had just started to mount their wheels, when they heard a shrill
cry and the rapid pounding of a horse's hoofs, and before they had
time to ask themselves what it was, a light carriage, drawn by a
spirited horse going at full gallop, dashed round the curve. The
carriage, which was swaying from side to side of the road, held a
young girl, and it was evident that she had lost control of the horse.
So quickly had it happened, that the boys barely had time to get their
wheels out of the way as the horse dashed past.

"It's Evelyn Nason," gasped Bob, as he recovered his wits, "and did
you see one of the reins was broken? Come, we've got to catch her."

They quickly mounted their wheels and turned on the power, but Bob's
wheel failed to respond. With a cry of dismay he got off, shouting to
Jack, who was already some distance away.

"Something's wrong with my wheel; go after her."

But Jack was out of hearing and without looking back, he faced after
the runaway, which was dashing down the road in a cloud of dust. He
knew that about a mile farther on, there was a very steep hill, at the
foot of which ran a wide brook, and here the road made a sharp turn
before it led over a narrow bridge. The bridge was a high one, as the
stream ran through a deep gully, and unless the turn was made safely,
he knew that horse and carriage would be dashed over a stone abutment
to the stream, several feet below, as there was only a very flimsy
fence by the roadside at this point. All this ran through Jack's mind
as he raced along, and he realized that if he was to do any good he
must catch the team before it reached the top of this hill. Turning on
still more power, he was soon almost flying along the road, and in a
short time was alongside the carriage.

As he passed it, he stood up in the saddle, leaning forward, his hands
still grasping the handle grips. He was now opposite the horse's head,
and quickly shutting off the power, he straightened up, stood on the
saddle, and leaped with all his might for the head of the maddened
brute. His leap was true and he caught the bridle near the bit with
both hands and hanging on with a bull-dog grip, gradually brought the
horse to a stop right on the brow of the hill.

"I--I guess you had better get out now," he gasped, still holding the
horse by the bridle.

The girl, who was about fifteen and very pretty, obeyed.

"Oh, Jack," she cried, as she got on to the ground, "I never was so
scared in my life, and you have saved me. If Prince had gone down that
awful hill I'd have been killed sure."

"I guess it's more than likely, Evelyn, but how did it happen?"

"Why, just before I got to that turn in the road, where you were,
Prince shied at a piece of paper that blew across the road, and I
yanked on the reins. One of them broke and, of course, after that I
had no control of him, and I didn't know what to do. I set out to
jump, but he was going so fast that I didn't dare to."

By this time, Bob had ridden up, having located the trouble with his
wheel, which was only a wire that had slipped from a connection.

"You got him, did you, Jack, old fellow? I knew you'd do it if any one
could," he shouted, as he dismounted.

"Indeed he did," said Evelyn, "and it was the bravest thing I ever
saw. Why, he stood right up in the saddle and jumped! I never saw
anything like it."

They found that a buckle where the rein was fastened to the bit had
given way, and by means of some stout cord, which Bob had in his
pocket, it was soon temporarily repaired.

Evelyn Nason was a friend of the Goldens, and the two families were
very intimate. Jack had long been her particular hero, and now, more
than ever; it was natural that she should think there was none like
him.

"You'll have to drive me back, Jack," she now declared, "I'm so
nervous I'd never dare to drive back alone."

"All right, wait till I turn him around."

The horse, which now seemed quiet enough, was soon turned, and Evelyn
and Jack got in the carriage. Bob mounted his wheel, and holding
Jack's by one hand, started off ahead.

Mr. Nason was on the porch waiting for them. He had seen Bob riding
home with Jack's wheel, and naturally had asked him where his brother
was, and Bob told him what had happened.

As her father helped Evelyn out of the carriage, tears came into his
eyes as he kissed her, saying:

"Bob told me all about it, dear."

"Oh, papa, Jack saved my life. Wasn't he splendid?"

"My dear boy," cried Mr. Nason, as he grasped Jack's head, "you saved
my little girl and I shall never forget it. It was a very brave act."




CHAPTER XVIII.

BOB AND JACK GO ON A HUNT.


"Say, Jack, I've got an idea," said Bob that night after they were in
bed.

"All right, fire ahead, I'm listening. You do say something sensible
once in a while and I'm willing to take a chance."

"Well, I believe we could find that house where I was shut up."

"Think so?" asked Jack, full of interest now.

"Of course I'm not sure, but I recognized a house not more than seven
or eight miles from it, and if we go there on the wheels, we could
search the country pretty well in a short time. Let's try it tomorrow.
What do you say?"

"I say yes, that is, if father will let us, and what's more, we'll
find it, too, if they haven't lugged it off. We have to be mighty
careful though, for those fellows may be in hiding there."

At the breakfast table, the next morning, Bob announced their plan,
but Mr. Golden shook his head.

"I'm afraid you'll get into trouble," he declared.

"But," argued Jack, "we ought to do something toward finding those
fellows and, if we can locate the house, we can have it searched by
officers and have them nabbed if they are there."

Mr. Golden finally consented, but made them promise that they would be
very careful and not run any risks. Getting the cook to put them up a
good lunch, they were soon ready to start.

"That house," explained Bob, as they rode along side by side, "can't
be many miles this side of Oakland. We'll go to Waterville first and
then cross over to Oakland, then we'll take the road to Norridgewock
and look for that woods road. I suppose we might go by the way of
Norridgewock. It would be shorter, but I guess the roads are better
the other way."

The road to Skowhegan was rough and mostly down hill, and they did not
dare to run very fast, but once outside the latter town, on the road
to Waterville, they let the machines out and reached the city in
forty-five minutes from the time they left home. As they rode through
the city, people stared in amazement at them as they failed to hear
the customary chug-chug of the engine.

They made no stop and were soon in Oakland, a little village about
three miles to the west of Waterville. Here they stopped at a drug
store for a glass of soda water, as the ride had made them thirsty.
When they came out, they found that several people had collected and
were examining the wheels.

"Say, bub, what kind of an engine you got here?" asked one man.

Now neither of the boys liked being called "bub," but they had been
taught to be polite, and Jack explained that it was an electric motor.

"Well--well, I want to know! How do you run it?"

"Oh, that's a secret," laughed Bob, as they got into the saddles and
rode off.

In about fifteen minutes they reached the house which Bob had
recognized, and turning to his brother, he said:

"Now, Jack, here's where our search begins. It can't be very far from
here and as it's only ten o'clock now, we've got several hours to
hunt."

"Wouldn't it be a good plan to inquire at the house and see if they
know anything about the place?"

"Not a bad idea," agreed Bob, getting off his wheel and running it
into the yard. Telling Jack, who had followed him, to hold the cycles
he knocked on the door. A slovenly looking woman answered the knock,
and when he explained their errand, she gave a sudden start and said
rather gruffly:

"No, I don't know of no such place," and shut the door in his face.

"I'll just bet my old hat that she does, all the same," declared Bob,
as he rejoined his brother, then as the latter agreed with him, he
added:

"I guess we better not make any more inquiries round here; some of
these people may be in league with those fellows."

Mounting, they proceeded and had gone only about a mile, when they
came to where the road forked.

"Any idea which is the right road?" asked Jack, as he stopped his
wheel and dismounted.

"Not an idea. Guess we'll flip a penny. Heads to the right, tails to
the left, here goes."

Heads it was, so they started off to the right. It was a fairly smooth
road, so they made pretty good speed for about three miles, when Bob
said:

"Now we'd better slow up a little and begin to look carefully. If
we're on the right track that road can't be a great ways from here,
and it may be nearer than I think."

"Do you know which side of the road it is?"

"Yes, it's to our right. Now let's ride on slowly and keep our eyes
peeled."

Much of the way was through thick woods, and as they rode slowly
along, they closely scanned the woods to their right, watching for a
woods road. They had gone on in this way for several miles, when
suddenly, they came out of a thick piece of woods. So far, they had
seen nothing that in anyway resembled what they were after, but, about
a mile farther on, Jack spied a rough road leading through a field to
the right.

"Suppose that's it?" he asked, bringing his wheel to a stop.

"No, that can't be it, because I'm sure that it was in the woods, for
I remember hearing the branches hit the top of the car all the way
along till we got out where we turned into the main road, and another
thing, I remember just before we turned, the car giving a terrific
lurch as though we had crossed a good-sized gully beside the road, and
you see, there's no such place here. No, this is not the road and we
might as well go on."

They rode on for several miles, part of the time passing through
woods, when they went slowly, and again through the open, where they
speeded up. Finally, about eleven-thirty, Bob stopped his wheel and
said:

"I guess we've taken the wrong road and might as well go back and try
the other one."

To this Jack agreed, and by the time they reached the forks of the
road, it was noon, and as they saw a small spring near the roadside,
they decided to eat their lunch before going on. They had just
finished, when they saw a farmer, followed by a huge mastiff, coming
toward them.

"Gee, Bob, just look at the size of that dog, will you?"

"He sure is some dog all right," replied Bob. "I wouldn't want to meet
him when he wasn't feeling in a good humor."

By this time the man was within speaking distance.

"Say, young fellers, what yer want round here?" he asked in a harsh
tone, while his manner was most offensive.

"Why," asked Bob, pleasantly, "do you own this road?"

"Now don't you get gay with me, young feller."

"No one's getting gay; you asked me a question and I asked you one.
Now, as you asked yours first, I'll answer it and then you can do as
you please about answering mine, but I think we have a right here in
the public road without being growled at. Now then, we are taking a
ride on our wheels seeing the country."

The farmer looked rather uneasy while Bob was talking.

"Huh, mebby so, but yer the fellers what stopped at my house down the
road here a bit, 'bout two hours ago, and was asking the old woman
something about a house what was hid in the woods, hain't yer?"

"Yes, we did stop and make an inquiry," replied Bob. "Anything wrong
about that?"

"Mebby not, only they hain't any sech place round here and yer needn't
go to hunting for any."

"Well," asked Jack, laughing slightly, "if there's no such place
where's the harm in our looking for it?"

The farmer perceived that he had made a slip, and grumbling something
about fool kids poking their noses round where they had no business,
he started off up the road to the right, the dog following close
behind.

"Well, well, the plot thickens, as the hero says in the play. Jack,
that man knows something about that place, and what's more, he don't
want us to know anything about it."




CHAPTER XIX.

THEY FIND THE HOUSE BUT LOSE A CAP.


As soon as the farmer disappeared, the boys started off once more,
taking the left-hand road. After riding five or six miles, they
entered a thick woods and about a half a mile farther on they came to
a bridge, leading over a small, shallow stream. This bridge had been
newly repaired as they could see that the plank flooring had been but
little used.

"By jimminy, but I believe we're getting warm now," cried Bob, as he
stopped his wheel on the bridge. "See where the road leads down
through the brook there?"

"Yes," replied Jack leaning over the rail. "They must have crossed
that way while the bridge was being fixed. But what of it?"

"Just this of it. I remember that just a few minutes after we turned
into the main road that night, the machine suddenly stopped and then
turned down a very rough, steep place just like this, and after going
a few feet, came back into the road again, and I'll bet my cap that
this is the place. Funny I didn't think of it before, for this bridge
brought it to my mind. They hadn't taken the blindfold off then, so,
of course, I couldn't see anything, but, this is the place sure as
guns, and that road can't be more than a mile off."

"Well, come on," urged Jack, impatiently, as he mounted his wheel,
"we'll soon find it if you're right."

They rode on slowly, closely watching the right-hand side of the road
and had not gone quite a mile when Jack's keen eyes spied a slight
break in the thick trees.

"Hurrah!" he called, "here's something that looks promising"; and then
as Bob came up, "there's your woods road and there's your gully."

"I believe you're right, now what had we better do?"

"How far do you think the house is from the road?"

"Not more than a third of a mile I should say. Now I don't think we'd
better take the wheels in there, because the road is so rough that if
we should have to make a quick getaway, we could go much faster
without them."

"Then let's hide them in the bushes and hoof it," proposed Jack.

"I kinder hate to leave them, but I guess it's the best way out. Come
on."

They led the motorcycles along the woods road for perhaps a dozen
yards and then turned off into the thick wood to the left, and after
pushing along about two rods, Bob suddenly said:

"There's just the place, right by that birch tree. The bushes in front
there are so thick that no one can see them."

Pushing on they carefully hid them there and then turned back to the
road.

"I don't think we'd better follow the road," advised Bob, "for we
might meet some one. Let's go parallel to it, but through the woods a
little to the left." This they did and had gone about a quarter of a
mile when Jack whispered:

"Say Bob, do you know we left the caps on the wheels?"

"Gracious, that's so; think we'd better go back and get them?"

"Oh, I guess they'll be all right; we must be most there now. Let's
risk it."

So they pushed on, and had gone but a little farther, when Bob,
peering through the trees, saw an opening in the woods, and a moment
later a low two-story log house, standing on the farther edge, was
visible. Jack was a few feet behind and, placing his finger on his
lips, Bob motioned him to come on.

"That the place, sure as guns," he whispered, "Right out in front
here is where I had that fight with Reed."

"Guess you're right, but I don't see any signs of life there, do you?"

"No, but we'll camp down here a while and watch."

Bob had hardly spoken, when they heard a low growl a little to their
left.

"Goodness, there's a dog," whispered Jack, and the next moment a huge
mastiff, similar to the one they had seen with the farmer, sprang
toward them.

"Quick, Bob, your pistol," gasped Jack.

The boys always carried water pistols, loaded with strong ammonia
water, when they went off on their motorcycles, and now they were to
stand them in good stead. As Jack spoke, he jumped back, reaching for
his pistol, which he carried in his back pocket, but before he could
get it out the dog was upon him. Quickly thrusting forward his left
arm, the dog caught him by the elbow, but the stout canvas, of which
their jackets were made, prevented the sharp teeth from going through.
By this time, Bob had his pistol out, and stepping forward, he shot
the contents fairly into the face of the enraged beast. He let go his
hold and with a loud yelp of pain, sprang backward, and began wildly
clawing the dirt and leaves.

"Did he bite you, Jack?" asked Bob anxiously.

"Nope, nary a bite, you were too quick for him. But I think we'd
better hike out of here. If there's anybody in that house, they must
have heard that howl, and will likely investigate."

"That's right, you know we promised mother not to run any risks; come
on."

Hastily they began to retrace their steps, but as there were no signs
of pursuit, they soon slowed up a little.

"Don't believe there was a soul there," panted Jack, "but we found the
house and that's one good job done anyhow, and I guess we'd better be
content with that for today, but I would have liked to take a peep in
that house."

By this time, they were in sight of the tree where they had left the
wheels, but, when they hurried forward to drag them out, to their
great consternation, no wheels were there.

"Jerusalem!" gasped Bob, "they're gone!"

"Well, what do you know about that?" echoed Jack. "If this isn't a
pretty kettle of fish! Are you sure this was the place?"

"'Course it is. Here's the big birch tree and you can see where the
bushes are trampled down. Oh, if we'd only taken those caps with us!
But come on, we mustn't stand here doing nothing. We've got to get
those wheels back, and let's hurry out to the road and see if we can
see anything of them."

As they hurried along, Bob continued, "If King or Reed spotted us I
guess it's all up, but it may be that some country lout saw us leave
'em there and has swiped 'em. If that's the case, we may get 'em
back."

"We'll do our best anyhow," panted Jack, as they raced along.

They soon reached the main road, and quickly looked both ways, but
nothing of the wheels was to be seen.

For a moment the two boys looked at each other in helpless despair,
then Jack, casting his eyes on the ground, said:

"Here, quick, Bob, see here's their tracks."

Sure enough, in the dusty road the tracks of two wheels, leading in
the direction from which they had come, were plainly visible.

"See, here's our tracks on this side of the road and there's the
others," and a second later he added, "There's only one fellow; see
where he walked between 'em."

"Right you are, Sherlock," shouted Bob, "come on now, on the run."

They set off at a rapid pace, their hopes away up. They ran nearly two
miles, both being in good training, before they saw any one, then as
they rounded a turn, they saw the object of their pursuit, walking
rapidly about two hundred yards ahead of them, between the two wheels.

"Come on now as fast as you can leg it," said Bob, "Let's get as near
him as we can before he sees us."

They were within two hundred feet of the thief, when he turned and saw
them.

"Hey, you, drop those wheels!" shouted Jack.

The man hesitated a minute and then dropped the wheels on the road
and, springing to one side, started off across a field at the top of
his speed. In another minute they had reached the wheels, and with a
cry of joy, Jack grabbed his up saying:

"Guess we're in luck again." But the next moment his spirits were
dashed, when Bob suddenly cried:

"Look, Jack, he's taken one of my caps." Then, before Jack could
speak, he said: "You look out for this wheel, I'm going after that
chap."

The man by this time was some distance away and running as fast as he
could go, but Bob remembered that a little farther along a road
branched off to the left, and hoping to cut him off, he jumped on
Jack's wheel and fairly flew down the road in a cloud of dust. Coming
to the branch road he turned and had ridden but a short distance when
he saw the man climbing a fence, beside the road, just a little ahead.
So quietly did the wheel run that Bob was nearly upon him before he
was aware of his presence. He was a tall fellow, about twenty years
old, dressed in overalls. Seeing that Bob was alone, he made no
further attempt to escape, but stood in the middle of the road
panting, as Bob came up.

Stopping the wheel and jumping off, he demanded:

"See here, what do you mean by taking our wheels?"

"Huh, don't yer wish yer knew? What yer going ter do about it anyhow?"
he asked with a sneer.

"Well," replied Bob slowly, "you've taken a cap off one of the
machines and if you give it to me at once, there'll be no trouble, but
if you don't, why I'll just naturally have to take it away from you,
sonny."

The tall youth laughed loudly, then stepping closer to Bob, shook his
fist in his face, saying:

"I'm not saying I got the cap, but, if you think I have, mebby you'd
better pitch in right now 'fore you forgit it."

Bob knew that the country youth was much stronger than he, as he was
all of thirty pounds heavier, but he had taken several lessons in
wrestling and boxing, and also was familiar with a number of the holds
of the Japanese which had been taught him by a Jap friend. He
therefore felt confident of his ability to handle the country boy,
unless he had a similar training, which he doubted.

"Won't give it to me then?" asked Bob.

"Give yer nothing," the farmer boy started to answer, but before he
had time to finish, Bob had made a rush and grabbed him round the
waist.

"Easy now or you'll be apt to get hurt," he said, as he clasped his
arms round Bob's shoulders.

This was exactly what Bob wanted, and giving a sudden twist to his
body, he exerted all his strength, and threw the fellow fairly over
his head. He came down with a heavy thud and was probably more
surprised than he had ever been before in his life. He was not hurt,
however, and quickly jumping to his feet, he made a wild rush for Bob,
shouting:

"I'll fix you for that, you blamed dude."

He was more careful this time, however, and for two or three minutes
they sparred, neither being able to strike a decisive blow. Bob found
that the fellow was by no means ignorant of the art of boxing, as he
soon got a blow on the nose, which made it bleed freely, but as one of
his opponent's eyes were closed, he felt that he was at least holding
his own.

"Blame yer, I'll get yer now," and the fellow aimed a powerful blow at
Bob's head. If he had landed, his words would undoubtedly have come
true, but Bob jumped nimbly to one side, and the country boy nearly
fell forward from the impetus of his blow. Bob saw his chance, and
quickly jumping forward, he grabbed him round the neck and, getting
his knee in the small of his back, he pulled his head backward, a
trick he had learned from the Jap.

"Gosh amighty, yer breaking my neck," gasped the fellow, now
absolutely helpless, and the more he struggled, the more Bob's grip
hurt.

Bob knew that he had him at his mercy, and freeing one arm, while he
held him tightly with the other, he reached into the pocket of his
overalls, and to his joy, pulled out the stolen cap. But his troubles
were not yet over, for just then he heard the sound of rapidly
approaching steps, and turning, he saw the farmer, who had questioned
them that noon coming towards them on the run and only about one
hundred feet away.




CHAPTER XX.

BOB AND JACK RETURN FROM THE HUNT.


As Bob saw the farmer coming, he had to do some pretty quick thinking,
for it was evident that he was hostile to him for some unknown reason,
and he did not intend to fall into his power if he could help it.
Fortunately, he had left his motorcycle standing in the road, about
ten feet away in the opposite direction from which the farmer was
approaching. Giving the man he was holding a powerful shove, which
sent him sprawling into the ditch by the roadside, he made a quick
rush for the wheel, snapped up the rest and, giving the handle a
slight turn, vaulted into the saddle. But he was just a fraction of a
second too late, for as he started off, the farmer caught him by the
coat tail. He had presence of mind to turn off the power before the
wheel fell over sideways, and springing to the side, stood facing the
farmer.

"Now, you young cub, what does all this mean?"

Bob had a habit of acting on the impulse of the moment, and before the
farmer had time to put up his hands, biff! he was lying on his back
in the middle of the road. By this time the younger man had picked
himself from the gutter, and hastily running forward, bent over the
fallen man, who Bob thought was probably his father.

"I'll have the law on yer for this," he shouted. "I guess yer've
killed him."

"Will, eh?" said Bob, stepping forward.

His fighting blood was now at red heat, and he felt able to fight a
dozen men. "Well, if you feel like taking the law into your hands,
come on, and I'll give you one of the most interesting little picnics
you ever saw. I was only playing before."

But he had evidently had enough, for he made no move toward reopening
hostilities.

"All right then, guess I'll be going. By the way, your father'll come
round all right in a minute. I didn't hit him very hard."

Just then the farmer gave a groan and opened his eyes, saying feebly:

"Laws amighty, did a mule kick me?"

Bob waited no longer, but, picking up his wheel, rode off unmolested.
Just as he reached the corner where the road joined the main highway,
he met Jack trudging along pushing his wheel.

"Well, old man," he shouted, "How'd you make out? Did you get it?"

"Did I get it?" repeated Bob, reaching his hand in his pocket, and
pulling out the cap. "What do you say to this?"

"I say it's great luck."

"You may think so, but quite considerable of a fight had a good deal
to do with it. Look at my nose. But," he laughed, "you ought to see
the other fellow."

By this time he had screwed the cap in place.

"Come on," he said, "let's ride back a little way. Something back here
I want to show you."

"What is it?" asked Jack as they mounted and started back.

"Oh, nothing much, only the road jumped up and hit a fellow on the
back of the head a few minutes ago and I want to see how he's getting
along. There are two of them, but I don't think there's much fight
left in either."

He explained what had happened, as they rode along, and as he
finished, they came in sight of Bob's late antagonists. The older man
was just staggering to his feet, and riding up to within about twenty
feet, Bob said pleasantly:

"Came round all right, did he?"

He turned and let out such a string of oaths as the boys had never
before heard. When he stopped for lack of breath, Bob said:

"If that's the way you feel about it, I guess the less said the
better, and we'll bid you good night. Come on, Jack."

They turned and rode slowly away turning their heads just in time to
see both men shaking their fists at them.

"Well, that chapter is ended," remarked Jack, as they rode off.
"Wonder what the next one will be like. We've certainly had some
excitement since we made those cells."

"That's so," agreed Bob, looking at his watch. "It's after three now,
and we'd better make tracks for home. You know mother will begin to
worry about four o'clock if we're not there."

The road to Skowhegan, five miles down the Kennebec, was very sandy,
and it was impossible for them to make good time. It was four-fifteen
when they crossed the bridge in Skowhegan, but they made up for lost
time on the run up to the lake and reached the cottage just as the
clock was striking four-thirty.

All the folks were on the porch, including their father and Uncle Ben,
who had come up from town in the car, a short time before. The story
of the day's adventures was soon told, and Mr. Golden declared that on
the morrow they would get some officers and visit the log house in the
woods.

"Well, I declare!" said May. "You two boys do beat all when it comes
to getting into scrapes and getting out of them again. It must be lots
of fun. Wish I was a boy."

"That's all right as long as you do get out all right," remarked Jack
a little dryly, "but there wouldn't have been so much fun to some of
the messes we've been in lately if they hadn't turned out as they did.
Please excuse me."

"Come on, Bob," shouted Jack, "that lake looks good to me. We've got
just time for a good swim before supper."

The girls both declared it would be just the thing, and all four
rushed into the house and upstairs, to reappear in an incredibly short
time clad in bathing suits. The girls could both swim nearly as well
as the boys, and soon they were having a splendid time in the clear
water of the lake. They swam and dived, ducking each other whenever
opportunity offered, until Mrs. Golden called that it was time to get
dressed for supper.

The next morning, while they were at breakfast, the telephone rang and
Mr. Golden went into the front room to answer it.

"What's that you say?" they heard him ask, "Mercy, is that so? I'll
come right down, be there in less than a half hour."

When he returned to the dining room, his face was pale and his voice
trembled, as he said:

"Bob, get the car out as soon as possible; the bank has been robbed."

"Robbed!" cried Mrs. Golden, as they all sprang to their feet. "How
much did they get?"

"I don't know, I don't suppose they can tell yet, but Riggs said it
was a large amount."

By this time the boys were at the garage, only a short distance from
the house, and shouting to Sandy, the chauffeur, had the car out by
the time their father and Uncle Ben were ready.

"Can we go?" asked Bob.

"Why, yes, I suppose so, but you'll get there sooner if you take your
wheels. You coming, Ben?"

"Guess I will," replied the latter, and telling the women that they
would 'phone as soon as they could, they were off, the boys leading
the way on the motorcycles.




CHAPTER XXI.

BOB AND JACK THINK THEY HAVE A CLUE.


The First National Bank of Skowhegan, of which Mr. Golden was
president, is situated on Water street. Behind it runs the Kennebec
river through a rock gorge, nearly fifty feet deep. At the time of our
story, the bank building was new, having been built only the year
before. It was thoroughly modern in every respect, and contained what
was supposed to be a burglar-proof vault.

The boys soon distanced the car and in exactly eleven minutes from the
time they started were in front of the bank. They found a crowd of
several hundred people collected in the street, for such a thing as a
bank robbery in Skowhegan had never been known, and there was great
excitement. Hurriedly, they pushed the wheels into a livery stable
nearby, which was run by a friend of theirs, and then pushing their
way through the crowd, managed to reach the sidewalk, in front of the
bank, but here the people were so closely packed, that they were
forced to stop.

"Guess we'll have to wait for dad," panted Jack, after a vigorous
shove had failed to make an opening.

"Gee, but this is worse than a football game," declared Bob, "but
here's dad now," as a big policeman pushed his way through the crowd
shouting:

"Stand back now and let Mr. Golden through."

The mass of people slowly gave way, and Mr. Golden, followed closely
by Bob and Jack, who had grabbed hold of his coat tails as he pushed
his way past, finally succeeded in reaching the steps of the bank. The
door was at once opened by Mr. Riggs, the old cashier, and Mr. Golden
and Uncle Ben, who was with them, entered closely followed by the two
boys.

"Oh, to think that I should live to see this day!" moaned the cashier,
as he closed and locked the door behind them.

"How did they get in?" was Mr. Golden's first question.

The cashier pointed to the door and a glance was sufficient to
disclose the means of entrance. Two doors, separated by a small
vestibule, led into the bank. The outer door was fitted with a heavy
plate glass window, but the inner one was of solid oak. This had been
cut through by means of a bit, and a hole about twenty inches in
diameter sawed out. A similar opening had been made in the glass of
the outer door, a circular piece having been cut out, evidently with a
diamond, and then, cemented back in again so cleverly, that it was not
noticeable except on close inspection.

Going to the vault at the rear of the bank, they found an irregular
hole, nearly sixteen inches in diameter, through the solid steel door.
The edges of this hole had a fused appearance, and Mr. Golden at once
said:

"Undoubtedly the work of experts, and they must have used an
oxy-acteylene blowpipe flame to cut through that door."

Bob had been doing some pretty deep thinking, and now he caught hold
of his father's sleeve and said:

"Of course, I may be a way off, but I believe that those fellows who
kidnapped me are the ones who did this job."

"I think so, too," broke in Jack, "We know that they are criminals and
what were they doing round here if they weren't up to some such job?
You see," he continued, as his father was about to speak, "they didn't
come here after those cells, because they didn't know anything about
them till they saw the boat the day of the race. I believe they
intended to rob the bank in the first place and then they saw our boat
and thought that if they could get hold of our secret, it would pay
them better than this job. That's the way I've got it doped out."

"And I believe Jack's right, dad," broke in Bob. "Something I heard
that man Reed say just after they got me in the car that night has
just come to me. I didn't think much of it at the time; it has never
occurred to me till just now."

"What was it?" eagerly asked Mr. Golden.

"Why, we had gone but a little ways when I heard Reed say, in a low
voice. 'How about that other job, Bill?' and King replied angrily,
'Shut up, you fool!' Then as Reed started to say something, he
whispered, 'That can wait awhile; it won't spoil.'"

"I really believe the boys are right," declared Uncle Ben. "There is
little doubt in my mind that when you get those two men you will have
the robbers of this bank."

"I'll tell you what," broke in Bob, "if those two fellows did it, I'll
bet a cent they'll go straight to the place where they took me, that
we found yesterday. You see they think no one knows about it and that
they will be safe there."

"Then we'd better get some officers and get after them as quickly as
possible," declared Uncle Ben.

"I guess we might as well try it," assented Mr. Golden, "seeing it's
the only clue we have. Mr. Riggs, see if Mr. Switzer is out there and
if he is, have him come in, will you?"

The cashier disappeared, but was back almost immediately, followed by
a powerfully built man about forty years old, the chief of police of
Skowhegan.

"Hello, Switzer, glad you were at hand," cried Mr. Golden.

"Just got here," panted the officer, who appeared nearly out of
breath. "I went over to Smithfield fishing early this morning and
didn't know about it till I got there, and then I hustled back as fast
as I could."

It may be well to explain here, that Skowhegan does not have a regular
police force who give all their time to it. Mr. Switzer, besides being
chief, was a butcher, and the rest of the force, consisting of five
men, held different positions in the town.

Mr. Golden quickly pointed out what has been described, and then told
him of Bob's suspicion.

"Just the thing to do," he declared. "George and Fred are outside and
I'll get them and we'll start at once."

"We'll go in my car," said Mr. Golden. "I guess it's as fast as any in
town, and will carry six of us all right, and the boys can go on their
wheels, can't you, Bob?"

"Sure thing," the both replied.

"All right then, that's settled. Now let's get off as soon as
possible. My car is right over there on the corner."

They went out and Mr. Golden and Uncle Ben at once made their way to
the car, while Mr. Switzer searched through the crowd for his
officers. Bob and Jack hurried to where they had left their wheels and
were back at the corner in almost no time, where they were soon joined
by the three officers.

"Now, where to?" asked the chief, as he took his seat by the driver.

"Norridgewock first," answered Bob, as he jumped into his saddle, and
he added, as he turned on the power, "here's where we break all the
speed laws ever made."

"You boys keep within sight of us," shouted Mr. Golden, as they dashed
across the bridge.

In spite of the bad road, they reached Norridgewock in nineteen
minutes. On the way, Mr. Golden told Uncle Ben and the officers that
Riggs had said that nearly one hundred thousand dollars in cash and
negotiable securities had been taken.

They made no stop at Norridgewock, but at once took the road leading
to Oakland. Here the going was much better and in a little less than
half an hour after leaving Norridgewock, they were within a mile of
the woods road, which led to the big house. The boys were about a
quarter of a mile ahead of the car and stopped here to wait for the
rest of the party.

"Are we 'most there?" asked Mr. Golden, as the car came up to them and
stopped.

"Yes, it's only about a mile from here, and I thought we'd better stop
before we got any nearer, and make our plans," explained Bob.

"My idea," said Mr. Switzer, "is to leave the car by the side of the
main road and go the rest of the way on foot. You see," he explained,
"if we took it too close they would hear it and skip, that is,
providing they're there."

All agreed that this was the best plan.

"Now, Bob," asked the chief, "how far from the main road is that
house?"

"I should say a little more than a quarter of a mile."

"And how large is the clearing round it?"

"At the back the trees grow up close to the house, but in front there
is a clearing of perhaps half an acre."

"Then, three of us had better get round to the back of the house,
while the rest approach it from the front. George, you and Bob and Mr.
Golden," indicating Uncle Ben, "can circle round and get behind. The
rest of us will give you plenty of time to get there and then we'll go
up to the house and demand admittance."

To this plan all agreed, and they started again, the boys keeping just
in front of the car. They had gone about a mile, when Bob held up his
hand for them to stop.

"See that big elm just ahead there?" he asked, pointing with his
finger. "Well, the road is about ten feet the other side of that
tree."

But just then something happened which caused a complete change in
their plans.




CHAPTER XXII.

THE CHASE.


Bob and Jack were a few feet ahead of the others, when the former
suddenly stopped.

"Don't you hear that motor, Jack?"

"I do now, and I believe it's a car coming out that woods road."

The rest of the party had now joined the boys, and the sound of the
approaching car was plainly audible.

"That must be them," said Bob in a low voice. "Now what'd we better
do?"

"We'll hide in the bushes on each side of the road," proposed Mr.
Switzer, "and when they come along, we'll jump out and stop 'em. You
all got guns?"

It turned out that only the policemen had revolvers, so the chief, Mr.
Golden and Uncle Ben hid on one side of the woods road, while the
other two policemen and the boys concealed themselves on the other.

"Now," whispered the chief, "don't make a sound till I tell 'em to
stop, then you cover 'em with your guns and if they try to get away,
let 'em have it, but don't shoot to kill if you can help it 'cause we
want to get those fellows alive if we can."

Nothing more was said and in a few minutes the car was near at hand,
as they could tell by the sound, and, peering through the bushes, Bob
spied a large car coming slowly along the road. Two men were on the
front seat.

"I believe that's King driving," whispered Bob, "though he's shaved
off his beard."

At that instant, Chief Switzer sprang out into the middle of the road
in front of the car, closely followed by Mr. Golden and Uncle Ben,
while the other policemen and the boys followed suit from their side.

"Halt, in the name of the law," shouted the chief, flourishing his
revolver.

The car was about ten feet from them as the order was given, and
instead of obeying, the driver suddenly put on high speed and the car
shot toward them. So quickly was it done that they had barely time to
save themselves from being run down by jumping to one side as the car
shot by and turned into the main road heading toward Oakland.

"Gosh, they'll get away sure as thunder," shouted Switzer, as he fired
his revolver after the vanishing car. "Come on, we've got to chase
them."

It took them but an instant to reach the road and, to their delight,
they found that Sandy, seeing the car come out, had brought their
machine up.

"Pile in, quick," shouted the chief, but although they obeyed as
quickly as possible, the fugitives were nearly a half mile ahead when
they started.

The boys rushed to where they had left their wheels, about a hundred
feet away, and by the time they reached them and mounted they were
quite a distance in the rear.

"Now, let 'em out," shouted Jack, as he sprang into the saddle, and
turning on the power, fairly flew down the road closely followed by
Bob, and before they had gone a mile, they were up with their father's
car.

"I'm afraid we're going to lose 'em," they heard the chief say, as
they drew up, one on each side of the car. "We're not gaining an inch.
Getting all the speed you can out of her, Sandy?"

"I've got her wide open," was the reply.

Bob knew that there was a long, steep hill to ascend a little farther
on and hoped that they would gain on them there, as his father's car
was a splendid hill climber and he had a few weeks before taken that
same hill on high gear. A moment later, as they swung round a curve,
the hill was at hand, and Bob shouted to Sandy telling him not to
shift.

They could see the robber's car about half way up the hill, and going
slowly, evidently on low gear. Sandy hit the foot of the hill at a
terrific pace and, as the car went up on high gear, they could see
that they were gaining rapidly. But the robbers had too great a start
and reached the top several hundred yards ahead. The road was now
slightly down hill for a mile or more, and they could see that, under
the reckless driving of the robber, whose car must have been making
nearly seventy miles an hour, they were rapidly losing ground, for Mr.
Golden had told Sandy not to go faster than he considered safe.

"I want to catch them as badly as any one, but I'm not going to risk
killing all of us to do it," he declared.

"He'll wreck his car and break their necks, sure as fate, if he don't
slow up," thought Bob.

But the robbers reached the foot of the hill in safety and had gained
all the ground they had lost in climbing the hill. For a number of
miles now, the road was fairly level and the race continued without
much change in their relative distance.

The two boys were now riding a little behind the car, and suddenly
Jack turned to Bob, saying:

"I say, Bob, we're never going to catch 'em at this rate."

"Don't look like it. They've sure got some speedy car, and of course
they're reckless about driving."

Just then they reached the outskirts of Oakland, and, as they had to
stop to inquire which way the robbers had gone, they lost still more
ground. Quickly learning, however, that they had taken a road which
would probably lead them, by a round-about way to Portland, they told
their informant to tell the police to telephone to the latter city to
be on the watch for them, and again took up in the chase.

As they started off, Bob said to Jack:

"Say, Jack, we could catch 'em easily on these wheels."

"Sure we could, we've been running only about half speed, but what
good would it do? We couldn't stop 'em, could we?"

"Perhaps not, but my idea is this. Let's get a couple of revolvers
from the policemen and ride up behind them and see if we can't put a
hole in one of their tires."

"Good," shouted Jack, "Come on, let's go get em."

Putting on more power, as they had lagged behind a little, while they
were talking, they quickly overtook the car.

"Hey, there," shouted Jack, as they rode up along side, "Give us a
couple of your revolvers and we'll try to shoot a hole in their tire."

"Think you can do it?" asked the chief, leaning out of the car.

"Don't know, but we can try it. You'll never catch 'em at this rate
and it's the only chance I see."

"All right, here you are," answered the chief, leaning out and handing
each of the boys a revolver. "Go get 'em. But you look sharp, now.
Those fellows are probably armed and won't hesitate to shoot if they
are cornered."

"Yes, boys," joined in Mr. Golden, "don't you get too close to them."

"We'll be careful," replied Bob. "Come on, Jack, now let her out and
we'll show them some real speed," and as they turned on the power,
they rapidly left the car behind.

But they had lost more ground than they thought, and they rode for
fully six miles before catching sight of the robbers, and had begun to
fear that they had lost them. But, finally they caught sight of the
car about a half mile ahead, and giving the motors a little more
current, they rapidly crept up till they were within two hundred yards
of them.

Suddenly, they saw the man who was not driving, turn his head, and as
he saw them, he said something to his companion, and then, turning in
his seat, he drew his revolver.

"He is going to shoot," shouted Jack, and the next instant a shot rang
out followed by several others. But, the swaying car made accurate
shooting impossible, and he emptied the chamber without doing any
harm, although Bob heard one bullet whiz past his head.

"He couldn't hit a barn at the rate he's going," shouted Jack. "Come
on, let's get a little nearer and then we'll try our hand at it."

They waited till they were within about one hundred and fifty feet and
then Bob fired, followed a moment later by Jack. They were both good
shots with the revolver, but, under the condition, they knew that it
would be more good luck than anything else if they succeeded in
hitting a tire. By this time, the man they supposed to be Reed,
although he now wore a mustache, had his gun loaded again and began
firing, but, fortunately, with no effect.

Jack had but one shot left when a ball from Reed's revolver passed
through his hat.

"Gee, that's getting a little too close for comfort," he muttered.

Taking careful aim, he slowly pressed the trigger and this time a loud
report followed the bark of the revolver.

"Got 'em," he shouted as both turned off the power and pressed on the
brakes.

He had indeed got 'em more thoroughly than he supposed, for as the air
left one of the rear tires, they saw the car suddenly swerve to the
right, and before the driver could regain control, it had turned
turtle into the ditch by the road side.

"Gracious, I guess that ends them," cried Bob, as they brought their
wheels to a standstill not more than seventy feet from the overturned
car.




CHAPTER XXIII.

THE ROUND UP.


The boys, thinking that the robbers might still be able to shoot, went
back a little way until they saw the other car coming.

"Well, you got them, sure enough," declared Mr. Switzer, as the car
drew up and came to a stop, "but I guess, by the looks, they're both
dead. We'd better have our guns ready though, for they may be able to
shoot," he added turning to his men.

Their fears were groundless, however, for on approaching the
overturned car, they found that both men were unconscious, although
they were alive. Reed, who had lost the false mustache he had been
wearing had been thrown from the car and, having struck his head on a
rock, was lying a few feet away, stunned, while King was pinned under
the car, and groaning heavily. It was necessary to get the jack from
the other car and raise the machine before they could drag him out. He
slowly opened his eyes and groaned as they bore him to the car.

It took some time to bring Reed around, but finally he began to show
signs of life and soon sat up and looked around in a dazed manner. As
his eyes rested for an instant on Jack, a shudder ran through him and
he muttered something about not doing a very good job and sank back
with a moan.

They found the stolen money and securities in a box under the car,
which was badly wrecked, and Mr. Golden took it in charge.

"Now," said Mr. Switzer, speaking to Mr. Golden, "if you are willing,
George and I'll take these fellows back to Skowhegan in your car.
There's a house just around that turn where a man by the name of Berry
lives, and he'll probably hitch up and take the rest of you back to
Oakland and you can catch the train there for home."

"All right," replied Mr. Golden, "I guess that will be the best plan,
and the boys can go along with you on their wheels."

So it was arranged, and the two injured robbers were made as
comfortable as possible on the back seat of the car with Mr. Switzer,
after he had slipped handcuffs on them. They said nothing except that
King said he believed his left leg was broken, and it was paining him
a good deal.

"You're both mighty lucky that your necks aren't broken," declared
Switzer.

"I don't know as it's so very lucky for us, either," said Reed
moodily.

The other officer took his seat in front with Sandy, and as they
started off, Mr. Switzer shouted:

"I'll send some one out to tow their machine in."

The return trip was made without incident, the boys following the car.
The prisoners were not inclined to talk and refused to answer any
questions. On reaching Skowhegan, they were taken to the jail and a
doctor summoned, who found that King's left leg was broken below the
knee. Beyond a good sized lump on the back of his head and a severe
shaking up, Reed was not injured.

The authorities at Boston were notified, and it turned out that Reed
was the long-wanted Jim the Penman, and, as Captain Long had
suspected, King proved to be the man known as Oily Joe. They were both
sentenced to twenty years' imprisonment in the state prison of
Massachusetts.

As the boys, accompanied by Mr. Switzer, left the jail, after hearing
the doctor's report regarding the condition of the robbers, Bob told
him of his suspicions regarding the farmer and his son, with whom they
had the trouble the day before.

"That must be looked into," declared Mr. Switzer. "It certainly looks
as though they were mixed up in it somehow. Tell you what I think we'd
better do. It's only ten-thirty now; suppose we take your father's
car and drive right back there and see what we can find out about it."

To this the boys readily agreed, and taking the other policeman with
them they started, waiting only long enough for Bob to call up his
mother and tell her the news.

They reached the place in a little over an hour, and as they drove
into the yard, the farmer was sitting on the back door step. As soon
as he saw them, he rose and started to go into the house, but Mr.
Switzer was too quick for him, and drawing his revolver, he pointed it
at the man ordering him to stop. He wisely obeyed and Switzer told him
to come to the car.

"Is this the man?" he asked, turning to Bob.

"Yes, he's the man all right."

The chief then explained the situation to him and told him that he had
better make a clean breast of it. The man was very much frightened and
his voice trembled as he spoke, telling them that he would tell them
all he knew.

According to the man's account, the house in the woods belonged to
him. It had been built by a man from New York, three years ago, who
intended to use it as a summer home, but his wife had died before it
was completely furnished, and he had bought it at a very low price.
King and Reed had driven into his yard one afternoon, a week or so
ago, in an automobile. The smaller of the two, Reed, had said that he
was a wealthy business man from Boston and that King was his servant.
He, Reed, had suffered from a nervous breakdown, and his doctor had
ordered him to go way somewhere, with his man, where he could be
perfectly quiet and where no one would bother him, and they were
looking for a place which they could rent.

He had at once thought of the log house in the woods and had offered
to show it to them. On seeing it, Reed had declared it to be just the
thing and had paid him a month's rent in advance. He had thought that
Reed was pretty healthy looking for a sick man, but considered it none
of his business so long as he got his money. He had seen but little of
them, but did know that they were away most of the time. Yes, he
thought it strange, seeing that he wanted to be perfectly quiet, but
here again, it was none of his affair and he had not bothered his head
about it.

Bob asked him why he had been so hostile toward Jack and him, and why
his son had stolen their wheels, and why he had kept the cap, on
abandoning them. He said, in explanation, that Reed had called at the
house one day, and during their conversation had told him that two
boys had stolen an invention from him. Some kind of a storage battery,
the secret of which was in some metal caps. He had said that he was
very anxious to get back at least one of the caps as he had lost the
formula for making them and had been unable to get the right
proportion of metals. Asked why he didn't have the boys arrested, he
had replied that, unfortunately, he had no proof that they had stolen
it, but that he would give one thousand dollars to get one of the
caps. So, it happened that when he had seen the boys the day before,
and had noticed the electric motors on their wheels, he had at once
jumped to the conclusion that they were the boys Reed had told him
about. So, seeing a good chance, as he thought, to make one thousand
dollars honestly and without much trouble, he and his son, who had
been at work in a field nearby, had followed them, and he guessed they
knew the rest.

The farmer's story sounded plausible enough as he told it, and, as
they had no evidence to the contrary, Mr. Switzer said he guessed
probably he was all right, but cautioned him to be more careful in the
future or he might get into trouble, and telling him that he might be
called as a witness, proposed that they start back.

"I don't know I'm sure," he said to the boys, on the way back,
"whether that fellow was telling the truth or not, but as long as we
caught the robbers, I don't see that we'd gain anything by arresting
him and I guess we'd have a pretty hard time proving anything against
him."

"Well, I got one good crack at him anyhow," chuckled Bob, "and I guess
that son of his will think twice the next time, before he tackles a
dude."

As the car drew up in front of the bank, they found that their father
and the others had returned and getting their wheels, the boys lost no
time in starting for the cottage, as they felt, according to Jack,
hollow clear to the toes. Mrs. Golden said that he and Uncle Ben had
eaten lunch and would be up later as he had some business to attend to
at the bank.

As they rode through the town, they had to stop a dozen times and
receive congratulations from their friends, and it was nearly two
o'clock when they reached the cottage. However, they found a good
lunch awaiting them, as their father had 'phoned that they were
coming. While eating, they gave their mother, their aunt and the two
girls an account of the events of the forenoon.

"I am very glad," declared Mrs. Golden, "that they are caught, as I
would never have felt easy with them at large."

Mr. Golden and Uncle Ben came up in time for supper and the evening
was spent in talking over the events of the last few days.

The next night, when Mr. Golden came up from Skowhegan, he told the
boys that he had a surprise for them.

"What is it?" both asked eagerly.

"I received a telegram this afternoon from Captain Long, saying that a
check for ten thousand dollars had been sent to you, which is the
reward offered for the capture of Jim the Penman and Oily Joe."

The boys were surprised, and of course delighted, for they had not
thought of a reward, although they now remembered that Captain Long
had told them that one had been offered.

"But, father, don't you think that Mr. Switzer and the other policemen
ought to have part of it?" asked Bob.

"No," replied his father, "I hardly think so. They only did their duty
in arresting them, while you were really the ones who caught them.
What do you say, Ben?"

Uncle Ben agreed with their father, in thinking that the reward
belonged to them alone, but Jack proposed that they would feel better
about it if they gave them a part, and Mr. Golden smilingly told them
to do as they thought best. So, after talking it over, they decided to
give them one thousand dollars each. Mr. Switzer and the other two men
were much pleased when the boys gave them the money, and all decided
that they had not expected any part of it as they considered that it
belonged to the boys.




CHAPTER XXIV.

CONCLUSION.


"Say, Bob, what'll we do with this money?"

The check had been received on the day following Mr. Golden's
announcement, and as soon as the boys got into bed that night they
began to talk about it.

"Well, I'll tell you my idea. You remember what I said before I was
kidnapped, about that prize of fifty thousand dollars for flying
across the Atlantic, don't you? Well, tomorrow, let's ask dad about it
and if he says we may try it, we can use it to buy an airplane next
summer. What do you say?"

"What do I say? I say that, for a youth of your tender years, you have
a mighty level head, and that last remark of yours is certainly a
corker."

The next morning, at breakfast, they broached the subject to their
father.

"Well, I never!" declared Uncle Ben, "What in the name of common sense
will you boys think of next? But of course, you are only fooling."

"Indeed we're not," declared Bob, emphatically.

"But sober earnest now, Bob, do you think the scheme is practical?"
asked his father.

"I don't see why not. Lots of aviators can stay in the air as long as
their gasoline will hold out and the only reason they can't fly
farther is because they can't carry enough fuel. Now we could carry
enough of those cylinders to take an airship round the world."

"Well, well," said their father, as he rose from the table, "there's
lots of time to think of that between now and next summer. I won't say
yes, and I won't say no at present, but we'll see."

It was now the beginning of the last week in August and the boys spent
the next few days delightfully, sailing in the Sprite, fishing,
swimming and playing tennis with the girls. To Jack's secret delight
Mrs. Golden invited Evelyn Nason to spend a week with them, and as she
was a lively girl, they were a very jolly party, and Mike declared
that they made more noise than a barrel of monkeys.

September came around too soon, and Uncle Ben announced that the next
day he and Aunt Lucy must start for home. All were very sorry to have
them go, for they all loved them dearly.

"Don't forget, boys, that you are to spend a week with us next
Christmas," was the last thing Aunt Lucy said, as they started off in
their big car.

Two days later, May and Evelyn went home and the Roost seemed quite
deserted, and the Goldens began to think about leaving the lake for
the summer.

It was Wednesday evening, and they were going to close the cottage the
following Friday. They were all sitting around the open fire in the
living room, for the night was chilly.

"Boys," said Mr. Golden, throwing down the paper he had been reading,
"how would you like to be tin soldiers?"

"Tin soldiers? What in the world do you mean?" asked Jack, as they all
laughed.

"Well, I'll tell you. This afternoon a friend from Philadelphia was in
the bank and he was telling me about a military college near there,
where his boy went last year, and he praised it so highly, that I
thought it might be a good place for you. I believe in military
training," he continued, "as it teaches, besides other things,
alertness and efficiency. I have very much regretted that I did not
have the advantage of such training, and I would like my boys to have
it. What do you say?"

The boys thought for a moment and looked at each other. Finally Bob
said:

"I think it would be bully; how about you, Jack?"

"Same here. Do they teach cavalry there, dad?"

"Yes, they give courses in infantry, cavalry and artillery."

"That'll be great," declared both boys.

"Then you think you would like to go, do you?"

"Yes, sir, I think it will be just the place for us," answered Bob and
Jack said the same.

"All right then, we'll consider it settled and I'll write to the
president the first thing in the morning as the term opens the
seventeenth."

The boys talked about it for a long time that night, after they were
in bed, and the more they thought about it, the more anxious they were
to go.

Friday morning came, and after a final sail in the Sprite, she was
pulled into the boathouse and made snug for the winter. Needless to
say, the cells were taken to Skowhegan for safe keeping. By noon, the
Roost was ready to be closed, and after lunch, they left for their
town home, the boys on their motorcycles and the rest of the family in
the car.

"This has been a splendid summer," declared Bob, as they were about to
start, "in spite of all the trouble we've had, and I've had more
excitement than I expected to have all my life."

"That's so," agreed Jack and then added soberly, "we certainly ought
to be very thankful that everything turned out so well."

One day, about a week after they came down from the lake, Mr. Golden
said, at the supper table:

"Mr. Jenkins was in the bank today and said that Fred and Will were
coming home tomorrow, and that he had decided to send them to the same
college where you're going."

Instantly the faces of the two boys fell.

"He said," continued their father, "that he wished you two were more
intimate with them."

"I don't," said Jack. "They're too mean and selfish and then you can't
trust them. I'm mighty sorry they're going there."

"Oh, well," declared Bob, "I guess there'll be room enough for them
and us, too."

It was Thursday and they were to leave the following Monday, and so we
will leave them, busy and happy in their last minute preparations for
their new life in college.

And so we shall take leave of them for a short time. Their subsequent
adventures will be found in a succeeding volume entitled "THE GOLDEN
BOYS AT THE FORTRESS."


THE END.




     The Boy Allies
     With the Navy

     (Registered in the United States Patent Office)

    By ENSIGN ROBERT L. DRAKE

Handsome Cloth Binding.

Frank Chadwick and Jack Templeton, young American lads, meet each
other in an unusual way soon after the declaration of war.
Circumstances place them on board the British cruiser "The Sylph" and
from there on, they share adventures with the sailors of the Allies.
Ensign Robert L. Drake, the author, is an experienced naval officer,
and he describes admirably the many exciting adventures of the two
boys.

     THE BOY ALLIES ON THE NORTH SEA PATROL; or, Striking the
     First Blow at the German Fleet.

     THE BOY ALLIES UNDER TWO FLAGS; or, Sweeping the Enemy
     from the Seas.

     THE BOY ALLIES WITH THE FLYING SQUADRON; or, The Naval
     Raiders of the Great War.

     THE BOY ALLIES WITH THE TERROR OF THE SEA; or, The Last
     Shot of Submarine D-16.

     THE BOY ALLIES UNDER THE SEA; or, The Vanishing Submarine.

     THE BOY ALLIES IN THE BALTIC; or, Through Fields of Ice to
     Aid the Czar.

     THE BOY ALLIES AT JUTLAND; or, The Greatest Naval Battle
     of History.

     THE BOY ALLIES WITH UNCLE SAM'S CRUISERS; or, Convoying
     the American Army Across the Atlantic.

     THE BOY ALLIES WITH THE SUBMARINE D-32; or, The Fall of
     the Russian Empire.

     THE BOY ALLIES WITH THE VICTORIOUS FLEETS; or, The Fall of
     the German Navy.

For sale by all booksellers, or sent postpaid on receipt of price by
the publishers

A. L. BURT COMPANY, 114-120 East 23rd St., New York




     The Boy Allies With
     the Army

     (Registered in the United States Patent Office)

     By CLAIR W. HAYES

Handsome Cloth Binding.

In this series we follow the fortunes of two American lads unable to
leave Europe after war is declared. They meet the soldiers of the
Allies, and decide to cast their lot with them. Their experiences and
escapes are many, and furnish plenty of the good, healthy action that
every boy loves.

     THE BOY ALLIES AT LIEGE; or, Through Lines of Steel.

     THE BOY ALLIES ON THE FIRING LINE; or, Twelve Days Battle
     Along the Marne.

     THE BOY ALLIES WITH THE COSSACKS; or, A Wild Dash Over the
     Carpathians.

     THE BOY ALLIES IN THE TRENCHES; or, Midst Shot and Shell
     Along the Aisne.

     THE BOY ALLIES IN GREAT PERIL; or, With the Italian Army
     in the Alps.

     THE BOY ALLIES IN THE BALKAN CAMPAIGN; or, The Struggle to
     Save a Nation.

     THE BOY ALLIES ON THE SOMME; or, Courage and Bravery
     Rewarded.

     THE BOY ALLIES AT VERDUN; or, Saving France from the
     Enemy.

     THE BOY ALLIES UNDER THE STARS AND STRIPES; or, Leading
     the American Troops to the Firing Line.

     THE BOY ALLIES WITH HAIG IN FLANDERS; or, The Fighting
     Canadians of Vimy Ridge.

     THE BOY ALLIES WITH PERSHING IN FRANCE; or, Over the Top
     at Chateau Thierry.

     THE BOY ALLIES WITH THE GREAT ADVANCE; or, Driving the
     Enemy Through France and Belgium.

     THE BOY ALLIES WITH MARSHAL FOCH; or, The Closing Days of
     the Great World War.

For sale by all booksellers, or sent postpaid on receipt of price by
the publishers

A. L. BURT COMPANY, 114-120 East 23rd St., New York




     The Boy Scouts Series

     By HERBERT CARTER

     THE BOY SCOUTS' FIRST CAMP FIRE; or, Scouting with the
     Silver Fox Patrol.

     THE BOY SCOUTS IN THE BLUE RIDGE; or, Marooned Among the
     Moonshiners.

     THE BOY SCOUTS ON THE TRAIL; or, Scouting through the Big
     Game Country.

     THE BOY SCOUTS IN THE MAINE WOODS; or, The New Test for
     the Silver Fox Patrol.

     THE BOY SCOUTS THROUGH THE BIG TIMBER; or, The Search for
     the Lost Tenderfoot.

     THE BOY SCOUTS IN THE ROCKIES; or, The Secret of the
     Hidden Silver Mine.

     THE BOY SCOUTS ON STURGEON ISLAND; or, Marooned Among the
     Game Fish Poachers.

     THE BOY SCOUTS DOWN IN DIXIE; or, The Strange Secret of
     Alligator Swamp.

     THE BOY SCOUTS AT THE BATTLE OF SARATOGA. A story of
     Burgoyne's defeat in 1777.

     THE BOY SCOUTS ALONG THE SUSQUEHANNA; or, The Silver Fox
     Patrol Caught in a Flood.

     THE BOY SCOUTS ON WAR TRAILS IN BELGIUM; or, Caught
     Between the Hostile Armies.

     THE BOY SCOUTS AFOOT IN FRANCE; or, With the Red Cross
     Corps at the Marne.

For sale by all booksellers, or sent postpaid on receipt of price by
the publishers

A. L BURT COMPANY, 114-120 East 23rd St., New York




     Our Young Aeroplane Scout Series

     (Registered in the United States Patent Office)

     By HORACE PORTER

Handsome Cloth Binding.

A series of stories of two American boy aviators in the great European
war zone. The fascinating life in mid-air is thrillingly described.
The boys have many exciting adventures, and the narratives of their
numerous escapes make up a series of wonderfully interesting stories.

     OUR YOUNG AEROPLANE SCOUTS IN FRANCE AND BELGIUM; or,
     Saving the Fortunes of the Trouvilles.

     OUR YOUNG AEROPLANE SCOUTS IN GERMANY.

     OUR YOUNG AEROPLANE SCOUTS IN RUSSIA; or, Lost on the
     Frozen Steppes.

     OUR YOUNG AEROPLANE SCOUTS IN TURKEY; or, Bringing the
     Light to Yusef.

     OUR YOUNG AEROPLANE SCOUTS IN ENGLAND; or, Twin Stars in
     the London Sky Patrol.

     OUR YOUNG AEROPLANE SCOUTS IN ITALY; or, Flying with the
     War Eagles of the Alps.

     OUR YOUNG AEROPLANE SCOUTS AT VERDUN; or, Driving Armored
     Meteors Over Flaming Battle Fronts.

     OUR YOUNG AEROPLANE SCOUTS IN THE BALKANS; or, Wearing the
     Red Badge of Courage.

     OUR YOUNG AEROPLANE SCOUTS IN THE WAR ZONE; or, Serving
     Uncle Sam In the Cause of the Allies.

     OUR YOUNG AEROPLANE SCOUTS FIGHTING TO THE FINISH; or,
     Striking Hard Over the Sea for the Stars and Stripes.

     OUR YOUNG AEROPLANE SCOUTS AT THE MARNE; or, Harrying the
     Huns From Allied Battleplanes.

     OUR YOUNG AEROPLANE SCOUTS IN AT THE VICTORY; or, Speedy
     High Flyers Smashing the Hindenburg line.

For sale by all booksellers, or sent postpaid on receipt of price by
the publishers

A. L. BURT COMPANY, 114-120 East 23rd St., New York





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