ndow of the scow. Not fifty feet away was a horse and wagon.
Its driver had shouted out the word to halt. Now he dismounted and was
arranging a part of the harness where it had come loose.

"Hello, there! Joe! Joe! hurry this way!" fairly shouted Ralph.

"Hi, who's that, where are you?" demanded the person hailed.

"In the scow. Ralph! Locked in! Get me out!"

"I declare! It can't be Ralph. Well! well!"

Nimbly as his crutches would allow him, Limpy Joe came towards the
scow. He halted as he neared the window where he could make out the
anxious face of his friend.

"What are you ever doing there? How did you get in there? Why, this is
wonderful, my finding you in this way," cried the cripple.

"I'll tell you all that when I get out," promised Ralph. "All you have
to do is to spring back the bolt catch on the cover to the hold
scuttle."

"I'll soon have you out then," said Joe, and with alacrity he waded
into the water, got aboard the old craft, and in another minute Ralph
had lifted himself free of his prison place.

"Whew! what a relief," aspirated the young fireman joyfully. "Joe, it
is easy explaining how I came to be here--the natural sequence of
events--but for you to be on hand to save me is marvelous."

"I don't see why," said Joe. "I have been coming here for the last
three days."

"What for?" inquired Ralph.

"Business, strictly."

"Mother told me you had taken the horse and wagon and had gone off on
a peddling trip," said Ralph.

"Yes, I sold out a lot of cheap shoes to farmers which I got at a
bargain at an auction," explained Joe. "Then I struck a fine new
scheme. It brought me here. I'll explain to you later. Your story is
the one that interests me. Tell me how you came to be in that scow,
Ralph."

The young fireman brought up the two satchels from the hold of the old
craft, and briefly related to Joe the incidents of his experience with
Farrington, Slump and the others.

"I say, you have done a big thing in getting those satchels," said
Joe, "and you want to place them in safe hands at once. Come ashore,
and I'll drive you to the nearest railroad town. You don't want to
risk meeting any of your enemies until you have those papers out of
their reach."

When they came up to the wagon, Ralph gazed at its piled-up contents
in surprise. The wagon bottom was filled with walnuts and butternuts.
There must have been over twelve bushels of them. On top of them was
spread a lot of damp rushes