to give it up,
when they saw a carriage coming down to the ferry that was covered with
dust and mud.

"That looks as if it had been out in the country a good distance,"
observed Colonel Dartwell. "I'll stop the driver and see what he has to
say. It can do no harm."

Walking up in front of the team he motioned for the driver to halt.

"Want a carriage, boss?"

"No, I want to know where you have been?" demanded the westerner.

At this question the driver seemed plainly disconcerted. He looked around,
and, seeing a clear space to his left, whipped up his animals and sped
off.

"He's our man!" cried the colonel. "Come on, he must not escape us!"

He set off with all speed and Jerry followed. The driver drove as far as
the first corner and then had to halt because of a blockade in the
street.

"Come down here!" commanded Colonel Dartwell.

"I ain't done nothin'," growled the fellow. "You let me alone."

"I asked you where you had been."

"Up to the park."

"Who did you have for a fare?"

"An old man."

"That's not true--you had two men and a girl."

The carriage driver muttered something under his breath.

"I--I--who said I had the men and a girl?" he asked, surlily.

"I say so. Where did you take the young lady?"

At first the driver beat about the bush. But the colonel threatened him
with arrest, and this brought him around.

"Don't arrest me, boss. I wasn't in the game. The men hired me to take 'em
out--that was all. They said the girl was light-headed and the place was a
private asylum."

"Probably," rejoined Colonel Dartwell, sarcastically. "Take us to that
place without delay. But stop--drive to police headquarters first."

Very unwillingly the fellow complied. At the headquarters help was
procured in the shape of two ward detectives. All four of the party
entered the carriage and were driven off to effect Nellie Ardell's
rescue.

It was with deep interest that Jerry accompanied Colonel Dartwell and the
officers of the law in the search for the missing young lady.

On through the crowded streets of Brooklyn drove the carriage, the driver
now apparently as willing to help the law as he had before wished to evade
it.

The carriage was turning into one of the fine thoroughfares when Jerry
caught sight of a figure which instantly arrested his attention. The
figure was that of Mr. Wakefield Smith.

"Stop!" cried the young oarsman to the driver of the carriage.

"What's up?" demanded the co