.

"We'll never make Harbor View!" cried Frank above the noise of the wind
and the spatter of the salt spume on deck.

"What'll we do then?" shouted Andy. The two brothers had donned their
oilskins which were glistening with moisture in the fading light of the
day.

"Run for Mardene and anchor there. Then we can go home on the
railroad."

"All right. Got any cash?"

"Enough for fares I guess."

It was some hours later when two tired boys entered the Racer cottage,
where they found their father and mother not a little alarmed at their
absence in the storm which had rapidly developed.

"But we're on the right track!" cried Frank with enthusiasm.

"How's that?" asked his father.

"We saw the mysterious man, and he had your motor boat, Paul."

"I'm not sure it was my boat," answered Paul. "I can't seem to
remember that I ever owned one."

"Well, that man had possession of it, whoever it was," went on Andy.
"And he was quite threatening, too," he added, as he related about the
brass cannon.

"I'm glad you boys had sense enough to turn back," spoke Mr. Racer.
"Don't take any chances with such scoundrels. The probability is that
he wouldn't have shot at you, but it isn't safe to run the risk. But,
Paul, is your memory any better for what Frank and Andy have told you?"

"No, I'm afraid not. I think--yes, I can remember something more!" he
suddenly cried. "I think I was once in a chase after that same man.
Now that you boys speak of it my mind is a little clearer, but there is
still that haze. I'm sure I was after that man for something that
belonged to me or my father. And I remember something else?"

"What is it?" cried Andy eagerly.

"It has something to do with a doctor. My father is ill, or was ill, I
can dimly recollect that. And I seem to see a nurse in a uniform,
and--and--but it is all so hazy and blank!" and again the poor lad
passed his hand over his aching head, in a vain endeavor to remember.

"There, never mind," soothed Mrs. Racer. "That's enough for to-night.
My! how it rains! I'm glad you boys are not out in the storm."

"Just the same, I wish we were after that man," said Frank in a low
voice.

For three days the storm continued, and with such violence that the
Racer boys could not even go after their boat which they had left at
Mardene.

Then, on the fourth day, the clouds broke and the sun shone. There was
a brisk wind, and Frank proposed that they take a train and get