le, and accordingly they had arranged for him to take a little
holiday trip into Northern Ontario with the two "boys" who had ridden
with him the night before. If he agreed to go with them and to make no
attempt to escape or create a disturbance he would be treated with
every consideration. There was no reason, Rives said, why the trip
would not prove a genuine holiday jaunt; there would be canoeing,
fishing, camping out, plenty to eat and so on and he would be back
after a while with a fine coat of tan and, if he behaved himself, money
in his pocket.

With his voice dropped suddenly to a strictly confidential tone, Rives
had then informed Jimmy that the missing campaign fund money had been
located--at a place called Thorlakson, west on the C.L.S. railway,
hidden in a certain stump beside a water-tank. Very carefully he led
up to the proposal that Stiles should attempt to secure this money
without the knowledge of his camp-mates. It was then that Jimmy had
learned from Rives about Red McIvor and the logging-camp where the
party was to gather; that the station at which they would leave the
train was called Indian Creek, and that it was the next station beyond
Thorlakson--just a few miles away. Rives said that both Red McIvor and
a man named Podmore were after the money and he was afraid that if they
secured it they would steal it whereas he, Rives, was anxious to
restore it to the rightful owner. If Jimmy would help him to do this,
get the money and turn it over to him, he would see that he was
suitably rewarded. If Jimmy refused to fall in with the plan outlined,
the alternative was a jail sentence; for it had been only with great
difficulty that he had persuaded Nickleby to refrain from putting
Stiles in jail on a charge of theft.

Jimmy had pretended to be duly impressed and grateful to Rives. He had
agreed promptly to the proposal. The situation suddenly had become so
ludicrous that he had experienced great difficulty in maintaining the
proper solemnity. The opportunity of getting to Thorlakson where he
could report his discoveries to Miss Lawson was the thing he most
desired.

But he had failed to reckon the possibility that he would be unable to
escape. It had seemed to be an easy thing to give his two companions
the slip; but when they detrained at Indian Creek he had been inveigled
into assisting with the unloading of the canoes, and on his first trip
to the creek a short distance from the station,