ng.

The boys made several other trips to the fisherman's cabin, going
afoot through the woods, as the _Lassie_ had again gone on a strike,
and a man from the garage was working over the _Dixie_.

The fisherman's cabin could be reached in two ways, but the water
route was preferred by the young people, even though it was longer.

The boys could not find Denny at home, however, and planned to be at
his cabin just at dusk, and to remain there until something happened.

"So we'll be sure to be there when the men arrive," said Jack.

Finally twilight came, and with the falling of night the repairs to
the _Dixie_ were completed. She seemed to be running better than in
some time.

"Well, here we go!" remarked Walter, as the boys took their places in
the swift craft. "We'll let you girls know what happens--as soon as it
happens."

"You'd better!" laughed Cora. "We'll be very anxious."

She and her chums had come down to the dock to see the boys leave on
their trip to save Denny from an unknown danger.

Then came more anxious waiting.

CHAPTER XXI

THE BREAKDOWN

"Well, he hasn't come back yet."

"No. It's sort of queer, too. I wonder where he can be keeping
himself, all day?"

"Maybe those fellows have got to him after all."

Jack Kimball and his chums, landing at the fisherman's dock from the
_Dixie_, thus commented when they paid another visit to Denny's cabin,
and found him still absent.

"No, I don't imagine anything has happened," said Jack. "You know he
often goes off and stays a long time in his boat. He's got a crazy
sort of motor in it, that runs about as often as the one does in the
_Lassie_. He may be stuck somewhere."

"Or else waiting the turn of the tide," suggested Ed.

"That's right," chimed in Dray. "I've heard him say that certain fish
won't bite when the tide's running out, and that you can catch others
only when it's coming in. Maybe he is hanging around for that."

"Then he ought to be back soon," declared Jack, "for the tide turned a
half-hour ago."

"If he's far out in the bay it will take him a long while to come in.
His boat doesn't make very good time," observed Walter.

The boys walked around the cabin. It was closed and locked, and the
warning note they had left for the fisherman was still pinned to the
door.

"Which shows that those men haven't been here," said Jack. "That makes
me fear that they may have gotten to him before us."

"Why so?" asked Ed.

"Well