farther away.
"I'll meet you later, you know where."

"See here, Link! Don't be in such a hurry," cried Dave, advancing toward
the youth. "I want to talk to you."

"I know your game, Dave Porter! You want to catch me and hand me over to
the authorities!" exclaimed Link, and showed more fear than ever.

"What makes you think that?"

"Never mind, you're not going to catch me this way! Don't forget,
Porton. I'll see you later," and thus speaking, Link Merwell turned and
started away on a swift walk. Then, as Dave went after him, he broke
into a run, and reaching the roadway, dived into the woods beyond.

"My, my!" came from old Professor Potts. "David, why did he run away?"

"He's afraid of being arrested; that's why, Professor," explained our
hero. "Don't you remember, he is one of the villainous fellows who
robbed Mr. Wadsworth's jewelry works a year or so ago?"

"Oh, yes, to be sure!" murmured the old gentleman. "I remember now. What
an awful thing for a young man like that to be such a criminal!"

"You say he is a criminal?" asked Ward Porton, curiously.

"He certainly is," answered Dave.

"Hum! I didn't know that," returned the young moving-picture actor, and
for the moment looked quite thoughtful.

"May I ask what brought you to Crumville?" queried our hero. "I thought
you and your company were bound for Boston."

"We did go to Boston, and the company is there now, unless it has gone
up into the woods. I had a little business in this vicinity, and so I
came here before going on the next trip with them."

"Did you come to Crumville with Merwell?"

"I did, but I didn't know he was a criminal."

"Then you must have met Merwell in Boston?"

"No, I met him on the steam yacht."

[Illustration: THEN, AS DAVE WENT AFTER HIM, HE BROKE INTO A
RUN.--_Page 63._]

"The steam yacht! Do you mean the one that caught fire?"

"Of course."

"Then Link Merwell was on board that vessel?" cried Dave, in added
wonder.

"Yes."

"Was he a member of your company?"

"He was. Mr. Appleby, our manager, took him on the day before we went on
the trip. I don't know where Mr. Appleby met him."

"That certainly beats the Dutch! Of course, Merwell must have seen me
and my friends in the rowboat."

"He said he did."

"He took good pains to keep out of sight!"

"I don't know anything about that, Porter. But he was on the boat, you
can take my word for that."

"And is he a regular member of your company?"

"He is to