after this the entire party was on the steam launch once
more. They took with them provisions enough to last a couple of days
and also an extra cask of drinking water.

By one o'clock in the afternoon the sun burst through the mist and
an hour later the entire river was clear, so that they could see
steamboats and sailboats a long distance off. The captain of the tug
brought forth his spyglass and they took turns in looking through
the instrument.

"Nothing like a houseboat in sight," said Sam, disconsolately. "It
beats the nation where they have gone to."

"They may be hiding around some point or in some cove," suggested
Fred. "They must know that we will follow them."

"I think you ought to telegraph up and down the river," put in Songbird.

"Dot's der dalk," came from Hans. "Let eferypody know vot rascals da
vos alretty!"

In the middle of the afternoon they made a stop at a town called
Smuggs' Landing and from this point Dick sent messages in various
directions. One message was sent to a city ten miles further down
the river and an answer came back in half an hour stating that, so
far as the authorities could find out, nothing had been seen of the _Dora_.

"Now the question is, has she gone past that town, or is she between
there and this point?" said Dick.

"Persackly," came from Aleck. "An' I dun gib two dollahs to know de
answer to dat cojumdrum."

"All we can do is to continue the search," said Tom. "But I must say
it is getting a good deal like looking for a needle in a haystack."

"Vot for you looks for a needle py a haystack?" questioned Hans,
innocently. "Needles ton't vos goot for noddings in hay. A hoss vot
schwallows a needle vould die kvick, I tole you dot!" And his innocence
brought forth a short laugh.

"I move we make a swift run down the river for a distance of twenty
or thirty miles," came from Tom. "We can go down on one side and come
up the other, and keep the spyglass handy, so that nothing that can
be seen escapes us."

The matter was discussed a few minutes and it was decided to follow
Tom's suggestion. Additional coal had been taken on and soon the
steam tug was flying down the river under a full head of steam,
causing not a little spray to fly over the forward deck.

"Say, dot pow ist like a fountain," was Hans' comment, after he had
received an unexpected ducking. "I shall sit py der pack deck after
dis;" and he did.

So far Captain Starr had said but little during the pur