ght up the rear, dragging the sleds.

At the end of an hour they entered a low and tangled swamp. They went on
through a maze of gloomy, intersecting paths. The boys were surprised to
recognize the place.

"I thought this swamp was inaccessible," said Hamp.

"It were always reckoned so," replied Sparwick; "but it seems kind o'
different now."

"Do you mean to say that this is where Brick is confined?" asked Jerry.

"Accordin' to the prisoner's statement that's the case," said
Sparwick, "an' I don't reckon he'd lie about it. I've got a bullet
ready fur the first sign of deceivin'. Do you hear that, old man?"

This last was addressed to Raikes. He neither replied nor turned around.
He went steadily on, twisting to right and left through the tortuous
windings of the swamp.

It was more than an hour later when the party came in sight of the
clearing and the cabin. From the top of the roof a pillar of blue smoke
curled slowly upward. The boys were startled and amazed. They eagerly
examined their weapons.

"Will we likely have much of a fight?" asked Jerry.

"Not a bit," exclaimed Sparwick, scornfully. "Put up them weapons. We're
four ag'in one. Do you think Joe Bogle's fool enough to resist. It'll
all go our own way, lads."

Raikes was now half-way across the clearing. The others followed closely
in his footsteps. Jerry and Hamp saw the cabin door thrown open. They
heard a hoarse shout from within.

"It's all right, Joe," Raikes answered. "No shootin'."

Sparwick paused, and drove the boys into the cabin ahead of him. He
followed with the sleds.

Jerry and Hamp stared eagerly at their surroundings. They saw Bogle
leaning against the table with a savage and wondering expression on his
face. Then they spied some one else, and heard a familiar voice call
them by name. The next instant they were kneeling on the bed beside
Brick, trying to clasp his fettered hands.

"We've come to save you," declared Jerry. "Your troubles are over now.
Your father won't have to pay that money, either. Sparwick is helping
us, you know. We told him that you would give him five hundred dollars
if he saved you. That's why----"

The sentence was broken off short, for just then Bogle strode forward.
His face blazed with anger. He clapped one hand on Raikes' shoulder.

"What the deuce does this mean, Silas?" he demanded, hotly. "Have you
lost your senses? Why did you turn back, and bring this rabble here? Do
you want to ruin everythi