, and refused to give it up. We did
everything to induce him, but he absolutely refused to leave, and
demanded a ride, so, recognizing him from the description as the fellow
who had escaped from Danvers, my brother decided there was nothing to
do but give him a ride back to the jail."

"Well, he's a plucky lad, I must say," declared the officer spokesman.
"That fellow is dangerous, he was just about to be committed to the
asylum. He's a lunatic, and should never have been in jail--"

"Oh," cried Dorothy. "If he should turn on Ned--"

"Not the least danger as long as the lad humors him," said the officer.

"We saw that," said Nat, "and my brother knows how to manage him, I
guess."

"And you are stalled now, can't get home until the machine comes back?"
asked one of the blue-coats, looking at Dorothy's pale face.

"I might walk, but the girls never could," answered Nat.

"Then suppose you go with us?" suggested the officer. "If the young
ladies would not mind riding in a patrol."

"Oh, not at all," declared Tavia, but Dorothy looked askance at the
wagon, in which so many criminals had ridden from their freedom.

"The best thing we can do," said Nat, realizing how much better any
kind of ride would be than the uncertainty of waiting there as night
came on.

"Jump in then," invited the officer. "We must be moving. I don't know
what the captain will think of our prisoner coming up in an automobile,
and the wagon bringing in this party."

Up the back step sprang Tavia, while Dorothy followed with less
alacrity--it did not seem pleasant to get in the big ugly black wagon;
a girl of Dorothy's nature feels the mere touch of things tainted by
real crime.

"All right?" asked Nat, as he stepped in last.

"Yes," answered Dorothy, timidly, taking her place on the leather seat.

"Isn't it too jolly!" burst out Tavia. "I bet on the horse every time.
Of course the auto is delightful, but when night cometh on,--Get a
horse! Get a horse!"

"The horse is a good old stand-by," admitted Nat. "But isn't this
great, though! Riding into Dalton in the hurry-up wagon!" and he
joined Tavia in the laugh over their new adventure.

"But we must watch for Ned," spoke Dorothy, "He might go back to that
lonely place."

"I've told the officer at front to look out for him," remarked Nat.
"He has to come this way."

"And to think," whispered Dorothy, "that the man was crazy, and the
officer said he should never have been in