earest apartment. The cook
stove was still there, just as Aleck Pop had left it, but the pots
and kettles were scattered in all directions and some of the best of
the utensils were missing.

"This looks as if the houseboat had been looted!" cried Dick, and
ran from the galley to the dining room and then to the living room,
while Sam made his way to several of the staterooms.

Nobody but themselves was on board the houseboat and they soon
announced that fact to the others in the bushes, and they came forward
on a run.

"Did they steal anything?" demanded Tom.

"Steal anything?" repeated Sam. "They have taken about everything
they could lay their hands on!"

"Everything is gone but the stove, piano, and bedding," said Dick.
"And just to show their meanness they hacked the top of the piano
with a hatchet!"

What Dick said was almost wholly true. The rascals had stolen everything
of value that they could possibly carry, leaving behind little outside
of the things already mentioned. Not only was the piano mutilated,
but also the chairs, the dining-room table, and the berths in the
stateroom. All of the lanterns but one were missing, and the small
rowboat resting on the rear deck of the houseboat had its side stove
in from an ax-blow.

"The fiends!" muttered Dick, as he gazed at the wreckage. "What they
couldn't carry they tried to ruin!"

"What could you expect from fellows who would shoot my pet dog?"
returned Harold Bird.

"I tell you, Dick Rover, those men ought to be landed in jail!"

"Well, we'll land them there!" cried Dick, earnestly.

"Do you mean that?"

"I certainly do."

"I will aid you all I can," answered the young Southerner heartily.

After that all made a thorough examination of the houseboat, to learn
if they could find out anything concerning the thieves. Muddy footprints
were visible in every apartment, but they told little.

"I think we are simply wasting time here," said Tom, presently. "The
best we can do is to follow up those footprints outside and see where
they lead to."

"Dot's so," said Hans. "Dis muss is so bad like it vill pe Lund vill
get no petter py looking at him, ain't dot so?"

"All right, come on," said Sam, and led the way off the houseboat.
"I don't believe those chaps intend to come back. They took all they
wanted."

To follow the footprints was no easy task, and before long, they
found themselves going through a swamp where the walking was extremely
treacherou