f directions that
saved him the trouble of thinking.

Joe promptly sent a wireless back to Beaufort asking for a better
description of the seventy-footer and the last course upon which she
had been seen.

The only further word the lawyer's informant could furnish, as Joe
ascertained ten minutes later, was that the boat was painted a drab
tint and had a "smoke-stack" ventilator. When last seen the boat was
heading out nearly due east from her starting-point.

"Going out to meet a liner, for some port," clicked Tom, as he heard
the news. "Well, it's our business to find that drab motor boat."

As Joe caught up his cap, Mr. Seaton looked rather uncertainly from
one boy to the other.

"You say we're to go out on this jaunt over the water," remarked the
owner of the bungalow. "But I don't know. Perhaps you want me to go
too badly. There may be something behind----"

"Stop right where you are, if you please, sir," broke in Tom Halstead,
a decided trace of bitterness in his tone. "You're still more than
half-inclined to suspect us boys of causing the loss of the papers you
had hidden in the closet. I am not blaming you altogether, Mr. Seaton,
though you are doing us a great injustice. But you _must_ believe in
us just at the present time, for going with us offers you your only
chance of catching up with Dalton and saving your own friends of the
syndicate. Come along, sir! Try to trust us, whether it seems wise or
not, since it's your only chance."

The young skipper seized his charter-man by one arm, almost dragging
him along. Yet Powell Seaton, who was in a state of horrible
uncertainty, permitted this forcing.

Outside, on the porch, Captain Tom hesitated for a moment, then, after
glancing at the guards, went on briskly:

"Mr. Seaton, I know you don't want to carry an armed force for
purposes of attack on anyone, and you wouldn't have a right to do it,
anyway. But, as we may be attacked, if we run afoul of Dalton and his
friends, won't it be much better if you take at least a couple of your
armed guards from this place?"

Nodding curtly, Mr. Seaton called to Hepton and Jasper, two of the
guards, explaining that they were needed for a cruise on the
"Restless." The pair followed along after the others.

"You can keep your rifles, just as well, in the motor room," suggested
Captain Tom, and the fire-arms were placed below.

Hank had everything in readiness for casting off. Within forty-five
seconds after boardin