LITMIR.BIZ

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little motor-boat when it knocked us silly just now. You're a witness to that, Frank. Just make a note of it, please, will you, and give me a punch if you think I'm shirking my duty at any time?"

      Frank pretended to be as much in earnest as his chum.

      "All right, then, I turn over the job to you, the youthful detective of Columbia High. When you get good and ready to confront the rascal with positive evidence of his villainy, give me the tip, will you? Meanwhile I'm going to keep nagging you about the same, and you can expect to have no rest unless you get real busy, and do something worth while."

      "Bully for you, Frank! You're the chum worth tying to." Lanky drew a long breath, "I understand that the new eight-oared shell arrived to-day at the station. I suppose the company will deliver it to-morrow, and we can take a spin or two before the race. Have you seen it yet?"

      ​"No, just heard about it when on the way to get you to take this jaunt to look over the course again. It hasn't been taken out of the crate yet, but several of the fellows tell me it bids fair to beat the old one all hollow," replied Frank, turning his head as if to listen.

      "Well this must sure be Columbia's boss year," remarked Lanky, with a trace of pride in his voice. "We won the baseball championship after the fiercest fight ever; and now with this new shell, and the four-oared one in fine shape, there's no reason why we shouldn't walk away with the honors in the river regatta—anyhow taking two events out of three."

      "You forget that Buster Billings has entered for the tub race, and promises to bring that prize to Columbia too," laughed Frank; for the comrade mentioned was the stoutest boy in the school, and as jolly as he was fat.

      "And before the great day is over I reckon there'll be more than a few chaps trying the water of the Harrapin as we've been doing to-night. But what are you turning your head that way so often for, Frank?"

      "I hear wheels back there somewhere," replied the other.

      "Wheels? Now you give me great joy! I'm glad it was you that heard 'em first. If it had been myself I'd have been afraid the wheels were in my ​head, for I've had a ringing in my ears ever since I soused into the river. Wheels? I believe you hit the right nail on the head when you said that!" exclaimed the tall lad, pausing to listen.

      "Yes, I was sure it must be that. Some sort of vehicle is bearing down on us, and at a pretty fair pace, too," Frank continued, positively.

      "I see your idea, and it's a clever one all right. What's the use of our trudging along like a couple of hoboes when by merely asking we may have the privilege of riding to town in style. I'm with you in holding 'em up, Frank."

      "Then let's just wait here," said Frank.

      "Yes, 'wait for the wagon, and we'll all take a ride,'" sang Lanky. "Honest, now, I never felt more like riding in my whole life. These clothes seem to weigh a ton, and every step I take I can hear the water scrouging around in my shoes like mush."

      "You do illustrate your feelings the greatest way I ever heard. Yes, that vechile's coming this way. There's a side road leading off toward Newtown above us, and I was a little afraid they might turn in there; but by now they have passed the lane. Perhaps it may only be a crusty old farmer, and he'll say no," suggested Frank, just to hear what his comrade would reply.

      "Not after he hears the bleat I'll set up. He must ​have a heart of stone to refuse me, feeling as squdgy as I do. Suppose we stand here where he can see us. I don't hanker after being run down again. Once bit, twice shy, you know. It's bad enough to be kicked overboard in the river; this old road would be harder stuff to knock on."

      The two boys awaited the coming of the vehicle with more or less eagerness, for a lift to town would be very acceptable in their soaked condition.

      "Well, here it is! You do the talking then, Lanky!" exclaimed Frank, suddenly, as a buggy drawn by a seemingly tired horse came out of the gathering gloom.

      Both boys immediately stepped forward. To their surprise the driver instantly drew in his horse as though the apparition of those two figures had given him a complete fright.

      Lanky saw one of the men in the vehicle half rise in his seat, and make a vicious cut at him with the whip he held.

      "Here, quit that, you!" shouted the astonished boy, as he ducked his head in time to avoid being struck by the whistling lash; "we only want you——"

      He got no further in his hurried explanation, for both men had without warning jumped hurriedly from the buggy. Frank, believing that they were about to be assaulted as possible highway robbers, ​half drew back, thinking to defend himself until explanations could be given.

      To the utter amazement of both lads, however, the men, instead of rushing at them, turned and ran back along the road as fast as their legs would carry them; and all the while uttering exclamations that told of both fright, and a desire to escape.

      Frank and Lanky were left there with the vehicle and horse on their hands, staring at each other as though unable to believe their eyes!

      ​

      CHAPTER III

      A STRANGE HAPPENING

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       "What d'ye think of that?" gasped Lanky, when he felt able to speak.

      "They're the kindest gentlemen I ever met," laughed Frank; "we only asked for a lift to town, and they've gone and made us a present of the whole rig."

      "Say, mebbe they forgot something back there?" suggested the other, scratching his head as he tried to solve the mystery connected with the panic of the two occupants of the buggy, and their precipitate flight down the road over which they had so recently come, and in the direction of Clifford.

      "One thing seems sure; they ran as if frightened," said Frank, seriously.

      "Now what are we going to do about it?" queried his chum. "Have we got the nerve to get in here and drive away with another man's rig? Say, I bet you they took us for a couple of highwaymen trying to hold them up! They never even let me finish what I was going to say. I remember now I did hold out my hand after that driver let fly at ​me with his old whip. Perhaps they thought I was aiming a pistol!"

      Lanky's voice took on a vein of awe. Evidently the peculiar adventure had made a deep impression on the tall boy.

      "That was just what I thought," remarked Frank.

      "And if we take the buggy now they'll get us arrested for stealing it. I'm tired enough to want to ride, but I guess I'm not that leg weary. Come on, Frank, and let's get along. This sort of thing gets on my nerves. Let's cut for home."

      "Wait. I haven't quite done figuring it out yet. I've got a sort of notion that there's something crooked about those two chaps," returned the other, declining to move, even when Lanky pulled at the sleeve of his coat.

      "Crooked! Whatever do you mean by that? It's us that look like pirates, holding two honest farmers up on the king's highway. Crooked! See here, Frank, open up and let me see what notion you've got surging around in that brain of yours."

      "How do you know they were honest farmers? Did they look like it? You heard them shouting out to each other as they galloped down the road, dodging as if they expected to have a shower of bullets follow after them? Well, stop and think of it, did it sound like the language of two honest tillers of the soil?" demanded Frank, as he turned his ​companion around so that they faced each other again.

      "Now, you're just hitting the nail right on the head. You make me think, and my dad says that's the best thing that can ever happen to any boy. They seemed to have too large a vocabulary of tough words to be just plain countrymen. Crooked! That sounds like rascals, thieves perhaps! Oh! I see now what you're getting at, Frank. You mean that perhaps those fellows who ran away have stolen this rig somewhere, and were

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