e, an' don't
seem to know it."

"I wish I'd stood right up like a man till I'd found the princess's
folks, an' then gone to jail, if the lawyers are so set on puttin' me
there."

"What's comin' over you now?"

"I'm thinkin' of that poor little swell we've brought out here."

"She's a good deal better off than if you let her tag along behind."

"That may be; but I ought'er found her folks instead of runnin' away."

"Now, see here, Joe Potter, you're makin' a fool of yourself, an' all
about a kid what's goin' to have a soft snap while she stays here. Of
course if you want to be put into jail for two or three years, I won't
say another word, an' you can rush right straight back to the city."

"Don't stand here talkin'!" Plums cried, in an agony of apprehension.
"We've got to leave, else nobody knows what may happen!"

Dan seized Joe by the arm, literally forcing him onward, and the two who
were ignorant of having committed any crime continued the flight from
the officers of the law.

CHAPTER VII.

AUNT DORCAS.

When the three had set out from Mrs. Weber's home, the amateur detective
announced that no halt would be made until sunrise.

Joe, whose thoughts were with the princess, gave little heed to this
statement, if, indeed, he understood it, and Master Plummer had been so
terrified by Dan's positive assertion regarding the possibility of an
immediate arrest that he had failed to realise the labour which would be
required in thus prolonging the flight.

Before an hour passed, however, even the detective himself began to
think he might have made a rash statement, and Plums, unaccustomed to
such violent exercise, was well-nigh exhausted.

By this time Joe had come to understand what might be the result if
Dan's advice was followed implicitly, and this, together with the
knowledge that each moment he was increasing the distance between
himself and the princess, served to make him reckless.

"Look here, Dan Fernald," he said, coming to a second halt. "Let's talk
over this thing before we go any further."

"Perhaps you think we can afford to loaf 'round here," the amateur
detective said, sternly. "If you fellers want to keep your noses out of
jail, you'd best hump yourselves till daylight, an', even then, we won't
be far enough away."

"We're jest as far now as I'm goin'," and there was that in Joe's voice
which told his companion that he would not be persuaded into changing
his mind.

"What?" Da