re are they?"

"Left the boat at Snog's Point, and hired me to bring her back. I
don't know much about motor-boats, so I'm running kind o' slow,"
explained the man.

"Snog's Point?" repeated Roger. "Where were they going?"

"Don't ask me, for I don't know. They was in a tremenjous hurry, I
know that. It's all right, ain't it?" went on the man, quickly.

"Oh, yes, it was all right," answered Dave. And then they allowed the
man to go on his way.

[Illustration: "THERE IS THE MOTOR-BOAT NOW!"--_Page 186_.]

"Want to go up to Snog's Point?" asked the man of the sloop.

"Yes,--and as quickly as you can get there," replied Dave.

As the wind was in the right direction, it did not take long. The
Point was a rocky cliff with a stretch of sand at its base. Here the
boys jumped ashore.

"Want me to wait for you?" asked the riverman.

"Wait for half an hour," said Dave. "Then, if we are not back, you can
go back;" and so it was arranged.

In the sand our hero and Roger could plainly see the marks of the
motor-boat and many footprints. They followed the footprints to a road
leading through a stretch of woods, and then came out on a highway
leading to Barrelton.

"The town is about half a mile from here. Wonder if they went there?"
mused Roger.

"Maybe we can learn something at the nearest farmhouse," suggested
Dave.

They hurried on, and presently reached a farmhouse set close to the
road, with a barn on the other side. At a grindstone a tall, thin boy
was sharpening a sickle.

"Yes, I saw them fellers," he drawled, when asked about the runaways.
"They was walking to town to beat the cars. I thought they must be in
one o' them cross-country races, or something like that."

"Come on!" cried Dave to his chum. Then he turned back suddenly. "Do
you know anything about the trains from Barrelton?"

"Ain't many trains from there," answered the youth at the grindstone.

"But do you know what there are?"

"There's a train north jest about due now."

"And what is next?"

"A train south a leetle after four o'clock. An' the freight goes
through at seven."

"Hurry, Roger!" cried Dave.

"Do you think they'd take a train, Dave?"

"I don't know--I hope not."

The two boys set off on a run, taking it easy at first, so as not to
get winded. They passed a number of farms and presently came in sight
of Barrelton, so called because of the barrel factory located there.
From a distance they had heard the whistle of a loc