or, but Lew Flapp held it open.

"I think you might give me a kiss for bringing you the eating," he
said, with another grin.

"I'll give you--this!" answered Dora, and pushed the door shut in
his face. There happened to be a bolt on the inside and she quickly
shoved it into place.

"Just you wait--I'll get square on you!" growled Lew Flapp, from the
outside, and then they heard him stamp off, very much out of sorts.

Fortunately for the girls, the breakfast brought to them was quite
fair and there was plenty of it. They ate sparingly, resolved to save
what was left until later in the day.

"He may not bring us anything more," said Dora. "Perhaps I did wrong
to shut the door on his nose."

"You did just right, Dora," answered her cousin, promptly. "I think
he and Baxter are horrid!"

"But they have us in their power, and have some men to aid them, too!"

"I wonder who those men can be?"

"I do not know, but they are very rough. I suppose they would do
almost anything for money. They smell strongly of liquor."

Slowly the time went by. They tried to look out of the stateroom
window, but Dan Baxter had placed a bit of canvas outside in such a
position that they could see nothing.

"They do not want us to find out where they are taking us," said
Dora, and her surmise was correct.

Night was coming on once more when they felt a sudden jar of the
houseboat, followed by several other jars. Then they heard a scraping
and a scratching.

"We have struck the bottom and are scraping along some trees and
bushes," said Nellie. "Where can we be?"

"Here is a fine shelter!" they heard Pick Loring exclaim. "They'll
never spot the houseboat in such a cove as this."

"I believe you," answered Dan Baxter. "It is certainly a dandy hiding
place."

"Those girls can't very well get ashore neither," said Hamp Gouch.
"If they tried it they would get into mud up to their waists."

"Is this Shaggam Creek--the place you spoke about?" asked Lew Flapp.

"Yes."

"You said there was an old man around here named Jake Shaggam."

"Yes, he lives in that tumble-down shanty over the hill. I don't
think he will bother us."

"Does he live there alone?"

"Yes. He is a bachelor and don't like to go down to the village."

The girls heard this talk quite plainly, but presently Baxter, Flapp,
and the two horse thieves withdrew to another part of the houseboat
and they heard no more.

"We are at a place called Shaggam Creek," said Dor