vancing to the wheel Fred
inspected everything to satisfy himself that all things were in
readiness for their departure and then said to the man waiting on the
dock, "We'll have to bid you good-by."

At the same time he turned on the power. As George and John pushed the
little boat out from the dock it began to move, but not before the
canal-man unbidden suddenly leaped on board.

"Thank you for your very kind invitation," he said as he seated himself
on the cushions.

"We didn't ask you to come," spoke up Fred, "and we don't want your
company. You'll have to go ashore."

"Is that so?" laughed the man banteringly.

"Yes, sir, it's so!" retorted Fred.

"Well, then if I go ashore I think there will be somebody going with
me."

"You're mistaken," said Fred. "We're going down among the Thousand
Islands."

"That doesn't make any difference to me. I'm going to find out who took
that bond. If you don't tell me where it is then I shall go to a
constable or justice and get out a warrant for you. You have owned up
that you had the bond on board your boat. It was a stolen bond and I
have been trying to run it down for some time. Now I have found it, or
at least I have found the party that had it, and you try to bluff me by
saying that you won't tell me where it is. Now, I'll give you your
choice. You can have my company, for I shan't leave you until I find
out more about it, or you can try to put me ashore and I'll get help.
Just as sure as you're sitting here I'll swear out a warrant and have
you arrested for stealing that bond."

The boys were inexperienced and for a moment they stared blankly at one
another, startled more than they were willing to acknowledge by the
bold threat of their unwelcome passenger.

"Well, what is it?" said the man a moment later when no reply had been
given to his questions. "Which do you want?"

"The thing for us to do," said Grant in a low voice to Fred, "is to
keep right on. We'll take this man down to your grandfather's island
and when we get there we'll tell him all about it. He'll know best what
to do and we'll wait for his advice before we do anything."

"That's all right, Soc," said Fred, greatly relieved by the words of
his friend. Then turning to their passenger he said more boldly than
before he had spoken, "I guess we'll take our chances and have you go
with us. We'll find out more about this later and give you a chance to
tell your story."

"It's all the same to me," sai