_got_ to do something."

The car sped on through the woods, then past open fields and soon they
came up to a rather battered farmhouse with sundry outbuildings near it
and stacks of hay which had been cut evidently from the neighboring
marshes that jutted in and out of the timbered lands. At the gate Nan
sprang down, and at the same time out came the farmer, followed by the
same boy they had before seen on the hay-load.

Being invited inside, the boys entered the sitting-room, where two other
men, garbed more like town dwellers, were seated. The farmer greeted the
boys warmly, recalling to them their kindly behavior along the side-hill
road a day or so before. At the same time the two men got up to leave,
giving the farmer a modest price for their dinners and remarking that
they might be back again shortly.

"Keep a bright lookout, Mr. Feeney. No knowing what you might run up
against," one said and they were gone. After this the boys had a
sociable chat with Feeney, who pressed them to stay all night.

"Shan't cost you a cent, boys, for you were good to us when Jack and
Jill might have balked and dumped us over that bluff."

"Well, it is possible we may come back. But in the meantime we want to
have a look round at the timber."

"Int'rested in timber, are ye? How'd ye come to meet up with Nan?"

The incidents connected with the Jersey bull were briefly related, Nan
emphasizing how Phil had risked himself in her behalf and that they had
kindly brought her home. This too pleased Feeney, who insisted more than
before that they should stop with him while they were in the
neighborhood.

"This is, in the main, a thick settled country, lads," said Feeney. "But
right about here for a few miles there's hardly anybody but us really
livin' here."

"It may be that we will take up your offer," remarked Phil. "But you
must not let us stop here unless we pay you a fair price. If those men
come back you'll hardly have room for more."

"Don't worry about that. We'll make room. Them men, I don't know what
they be up to. They won't be back from Midlandville for a day or two, I
guess."

With no definite promise to return the boys left, going along the road
they had come with Nan, and on the way Phil busied himself in studying
the pencilled map on the old envelope which had been given to Paul by
Coster.

There was a square in the center marked "Tavern," doubtless the place
the boys had seen that day through the thick timber