most time," said Whistler
rather grumpily.

And this they did. The train for Seacove came along in a few minutes.
The boys got aboard. Ikey ran ahead down the aisle of the car and got
into a seat by an open window. The first thing he did was to thrust his
head out of the window and look back along the platform as the train
started.

"Oi, oi!" he cried, under his breath. "Here he comes!"

"Here who comes?" demanded Al Torrance.

"The German spy," declared Ikey.

"Hush up!" commanded Frenchy. "Want everybody to hear you?"

"What do you mean?" asked Whistler.

"That man," said Ikey. "He got aboard. He went into the last car."

"You don't mean Blake?"

"That's who I mean," declared Ikey with conviction.

"Aw, he's crazy," scoffed Frenchy.

But Torry went back through the train after it was well under way and
the conductor had taken their tickets. He peered through the glass in
the door of the rear car.

He came back shaking his head and looking puzzled.

"He's there all right," he said to Whistler. "Bet he's going to Elmvale
instead of to sea again. What do you make of it?"

"Not a thing," grumbled Whistler. "I wish I knew what to do."

"Let's have him pinched," suggested the eager Frenchy.

"Not a chance! On what charge?" asked Torry. "Accuse him of being in
disguise because he wears that beard?" and he chuckled.

But to Whistler Morgan's mind it was no laughing matter. He was silent
all the way to Seacove. Torry suggested that they stay on the train to
Elmvale and see if Blake got off at that station.

"No," his friend said decidedly, "we can't do that. Our folks will be
worried about us if we don't report soon. Cap Bridger may have told
around town that we went off on the submarine chaser, and perhaps our
folks will think we've gone for good."

So they alighted at their station and left the mysterious Blake aboard
the train. Whistler hurried home to consult with his father. There was
nobody else in whom he had so much confidence; at least, nobody within
reach.

In this case, however, his father was not within reach. Dr. Morgan had
been called away to see a patient in the country. It was a call that
might keep him away from home all night. Whistler was greatly
disappointed.

He went down town again and hunted up Torry. He found his friend getting
into his father's car in front of the garage.

"I was just coming over to get you," Torry said. "D'you know, Whistler,
I feel just as nervous as a ca