"It is too late now, and was when I first found you. I'll see if you
can carry me a short distance, and then we must find a hiding-place,
for whether they are successful in this scheme or not, the
counterfeiters will soon be on the hunt for me."

CHAPTER XIV

A CAPTURE

For Harvey to attempt to walk, however good a crutch might be found,
would have been foolhardy, for it was only with the greatest difficulty
he could stand upright.

Jet understood this quite as well as did the detective and he also knew
there was no time to be lost, if they expected to find a hiding-place
before the day had fairly dawned.

"I am going to take you on my back," he said in a decided tone, "and we
mustn't fool around here talking about it. Will you climb up without
making a row, or must I use force?"

"I will obey," Harvey replied with a smile, as Jet backed toward him,
and a few seconds later the boy was making his way through the
underbrush.

Jet's burden was heavier than he had anticipated, and he staggered from
side to side before twenty yards had been traversed, causing Harvey to
say firmly:

"It is no use for you to try anything of the kind, Jet. This will only
result in both of us being overhauled."

"Here's a place where we can stop for a rest," and Jet halted in front
of a thick clump of fir bushes. "By crawling in there we shall soon be
out of sight, and I'll start back for the depot as soon as you think it
is safe."

He lowered the detective gently to the ground, aided him in making his
way through the tangled underbrush to the center of the clump, and then
returned to the outside of the little thicket, in order to replace the
branches and foliage generally to their ordinary position, that those
who should come in search might not be able to see the trail.

This done he skirted around to the opposite side, and entered in a
manner which would have done credit to an Indian.

"Now you've got a chance to tie up your leg as it ought to be," he
said. "Shall I take that handkerchief off?"

"I don't think it will pay to disturb it, my boy. The flow of blood
has been stopped, and might start again if the compress was removed.
Besides there is no water with which to wash it."

"How long are you counting on staying around here?"

"Until you can get to the town, and send some one back to help me in.
I couldn't crawl that far in a month."

"Then the sooner I go the better," and Jet rose to his feet, despite
t