m master of enough
English to convey to him an idea of just what I think of him!"

"I wouldn't waste any of my carefully acquired English on him,"
growled Tom Reade.

"What would you do---skin your other knuckles?" inquired Danny
Grin innocently.

"We're wasting too much time punishing a fellow who isn't here,"
Dick broke in. "Let's get forward. After another mile Dalzell
and I will take the cart and get it over some of the ground.
Now, forward, march!"

It was noticed that Dave Darrin walked with clenched-fists. Tom
took long strides that carried him in advance of the others.
Dick Prescott was mostly silent, yet in his eyes there was a steady
light, and a grim look about his mouth, that bespoke the possibility
of some inconvenience to Bert Dodge and his friend, should that
pair fall into the hands of Dick & Co. within the next hour.

At noon Dick & Co. halted. Under the shade of a group of trees,
close to a roadside spring, they built two small fires. Over
one they made coffee; over the other, they fried bacon and eggs.
This, with bread, constituted the meal. A brief rest, then on
they went once more.

It was toward five o'clock when Dick and Tom, who knew the road
from having tramped over it before, announced that they were less
than half a mile from the point where they would turn in to go
to the second lake.

At this time Greg and Dan were managing the push cart. Tom and
Dick strode on ahead, watching for the first sign of the path
that should lead down to their intended camp site.

Suddenly, however, Prescott seized Reade by the arm, halting him.

"What's the matter?" asked Tom.

"Sh!---" Dick piloted his friend in behind a line of bushes, then
went cautiously ahead.

"Look over there!" whispered Dick.

Tom Reade gave a start when he found himself gazing at a red
runabout that stood just off the road and apparently deserted.

"Humph! That's a Smattach, too," declared Tom. "It must be the
Dodge car. Bert and Bayliss must be somewhere about."

Dick stood surveying the car with speculative eyes.

"I know what you're thinking about," Tom whispered. "Wait; I'll
go back and halt the fellows and bring Dave forward with me."

In a few moments this had been done. Darry gazed at the red Smattach
with gleaming eyes.

"This is surely our chance!" he muttered. "Now, what can we do?"

All three were silent for a few moments. Then Tom Reade smote
his thigh with one hand.

"I have it," he