e who were smaller and weaker than
himself that he dared to play the part of the bully.

Dora and Nellie heard the loud talking after the crashing of the
launch into the houseboat and also heard part of what followed. Both
wanted to cry out for assistance, but did not dare, fearing that
something still worse might happen to them.

"They might bind and gag us," said Nellie. "That Dan Baxter is bad
enough to do almost anything."

"Yes, and from the way Lew Flapp treated Dick, I should think he was
almost as wicked as Baxter," answered her cousin.

The girls wondered who the newcomers on board could be, but had no
means of finding out. Nobody came near them, and at last tired nature
asserted itself and both dropped into a troublous doze.

When they awoke it was still dark. A steam whistle had aroused them.
They looked out of the stateroom window. It had stopped raining, but
the mist was just as thick as ever.

"Oh, if only it would clear up!" sighed Dora. "Nobody will be able
to follow the houseboat in such a mist as this."

"Where do you think they will take us, Dora?" questioned Nellie.

"Goodness only knows. Perhaps down the Mississippi, or maybe to the
Gulf of Mexico."

"Oh, Dora, would they dare to do that?" And Nellie's face grew pale.

Dora shrugged her shoulders by way of reply, and for the time being
the cousins relapsed into silence. Both were thinking of their mothers
and of the Rovers. What had the others said to their strange
disappearance?

"It is perfectly dreadful!" cried Nellie, at last, and burst into
tears, and Dora followed. The crying appeared to do them some good
and after half an hour they became more at ease.

"We must escape if we possibly can, Nellie," said Dora. "We cannot
afford to remain a moment longer on this houseboat than is necessary."

"But how are we going to escape? It looks to me as if we were out in
the middle of the river."

"That is true. But both of us can row, and there is a small rowboat
on board. If we could launch that and get away we might escape."

"Well, I am willing to try it, if you think it can be done. But we
must get out of this stateroom first."

The two girls listened, but nobody appeared to be anywhere near them.

"I can hear them talking in the kitchen," said Nellie. "More than
likely they are getting something to eat."

"I could eat something myself."

"So could I. But I'd rather get away."

Both looked for some means of getting out of the