editor, and let him know what
is going to happen if that scurrilous sheet-----"

Here Bert checked himself, for Dick had begun to smile coldly.

"Confound you!" roared Bert Dodge. He leaped forward, intent
on striking the young junior down. But Officer Hemingway pushed
Dodge back forcefully.

"Come, come, now, Dodge, we won't have any of that," warned the
officer. "And, if you want my opinion, you're not playing the
part of a gentleman just now. Prescott understands your state
of mind, however. He knows you're so upset, your mind so unhinged
by the family trouble that you're doing and saying things that
you'll be ashamed of by daylight."

"I suppose, next, you'll be inviting this reported fellow to go
on the boat with us when it comes," sneered Bert Dodge.

"That would be for the chief to say. Reporters are, usually,
allowed to go with the police. Come, come, Dodge," urged Hemingway,
laying a kindly hand on the young man's shoulder, "calm down and
understand that Prescott is not offering to make any trouble,
and that he has been very patient with a young fellow who finds
himself in a heap of trouble."

"I can cut this short," offered Dick quietly. "I don't believe
it would be worth my while, Mr. Hemingway, to ask the chief's
permission to go on the boat with you. 'The Blade' can find out,
later, whether you discover anything on the river."

"Where are you going, now?" demanded Bert unreasonably, as Prescott
turned away.

"Back to the horse and buggy," Dick replied coolly.

"Then I'm going with you, and see you start back to town," asserted
Bert Dodge.

Hemingway did not interfere, but, leaving his brother policeman
at the river's edge, accompanied young Dodge. In a few minutes
they arrived at the spot in the lane where Dick had tied the horse.
Here they found Dave Darrin seated in the buggy. Dave glanced
unconcernedly at them all, nodding to Hemingway way, who returned
the salutation.

"Now, I'll watch you start away from here," snapped Bert.

"All right, then," smiled Dick, climbing in, after unhitching,
and picking up the reins. "I won't keep you long."

With that, and a parting word to the policeman, Dick Prescott
drove away.

"I saw Hemingway coming, and knew you wouldn't need me," Dave
explained with a laugh. "So, to save Bert a double attack of
nerves, I slipped off in the darkness, and came here. But what
on earth ails Dodge, anyway?"

"Why, for one thing, he's worried to deat