amp and lost my way in the
woods."

"But your camp is on an island."

"I know it. I was carried off by some students who were hazing me. They
put a bag over my head and took me in a boat, and I got mixed up.

"I hope they hazed you good," came from Dan Baxter with a malicious
grin.

"Thank you, Dan, you always were a real friend," returned Dick, as
coolly as he could.

"Oh, don't you come any of that game over me!" roared Dan Baxter. "I
haven't forgotten the past, Dick Rover, and you'll find it out so
before I get through with you. I was just hoping you or your precious
brothers might drop into my arms."

"What are you and your father doing here?"

"That is my business," broke in Arnold Baxter.

"I don't see why you fellows can't turn over a new leaf," went on Dick
earnestly.

"Oh, don't preach, Dick Rover," answered Dan Baxter. "You make me sick
when you do that."

"I suppose you find this a good hiding place."

"It has been--up to now," said Arnold Baxter. "But since you have
discovered us--" he did not finish.

"We'll make him pay for it," said Dan Baxter. "I've been waiting to
square accounts for a long time."

"How did you escape from that island, Dan?" asked Dick curiously.

"A ship came along about a week after you left it."

"I see. And did you come right through to here?"

"That is my business, Dick Rover. But I came to help my father, I don't
mind telling you that."

"Then you knew he had escaped from prison?"

"From the hospital, yes."

"And did you know he had robbed our house?"

"He took what belonged to him, Dick Rover. Your folks robbed him of
that mine in the West."

"Well, I won't argue the point, Dan Baxter." Dick got up and moved
toward the door. "I think I'll go."

"Will you!" cried both of the Baxters, in a breath, and seizing him
they forced him back into the corner.

"Let us make him a prisoner," went on Dan Baxter, and this was speedily
done by aid of a rope which the elder Baxter brought forth. Then Dick
was thrown into a closet of an inner apartment and the door was locked
upon him.

CHAPTER XXIX

TRUE HEROISM

"Well, one thing is certain, I am much worse off now than I was when in
the hands of Lew Flapp's crowd," thought Dick dismally, after trying in
vain to break the bonds that bound him.

The closet in which he was a prisoner was so small that he could
scarcely turn himself. The door was a thick one, so to break it down
was out of the question.