injure your business prospects?"

"I feel so certain of it that I shall begin to make preparations to
leave here as soon as I finish what I have on hand. I certainly know
that I would not employ a man who would deliberately assist in carrying
a large quantity of glycerine through a town, and at the same time drive
in the most reckless manner."

"But you can prove that you were not with the party, and that you knew
nothing of what was being done."

"Yes, I can prove that, if they give me the opportunity, and I am now in
the position of a man who longs most ardently to be arrested, but yet
who does not dare to appear too eager about it."

"I can't say that I want to be arrested," said Ralph, dubiously, "for
father and mother would think I had been doing something terrible; but I
would be perfectly willing to stand it if it would do you any good."

"It is about the only thing that can do me any good," replied George,
decidedly; and then he added, quickly: "But we won't talk any more about
it. Let us enjoy this ride thoroughly, for we have just escaped from the
moonlighters' den. I can't say, however, that our troubles are entirely
over; for, by the looks of those black clouds, we shall stand a chance
of getting a drenching."

It was as George had said. The sky, which had been cloudless when they
started, was now being obscured by black, angry-looking clouds, which
threatened at any moment to break and pour their burden of water upon
the parched earth.

Had they been riding where no shelter could be found, both the boys
would have been alarmed, for there was every indication of a heavy
shower; but since there were houses along the road in which they could
take shelter at almost any moment, they rode on, determined to get as
near as possible to their destination before the storm burst.

George urged the horses along, hoping that they might reach the town of
Sawyer before the rain came; but in this he was mistaken, for, before
they had ridden five minutes from the time he first spoke, the great
drops that acted as _avant couriers_ to the large body of water,
descended, and the boys had just time to drive under a rude shed before
the storm was upon them.

A vivid flash of lightning, followed immediately by a deafening peal of
thunder, was the prelude to as terrific a thunder-storm as the boys had
ever seen, and, as the rain descended in what seemed to be sheets of
water rather than drops, the lightning flashed almos