boys before he realized
who they were.

He stopped still, eyes and mouth wide open. Then, with a stuttered
imprecation, he turned and fled. The men with him stayed not to
question, but darted furtively into the woods.

"Come on, fellows!" cried Bob, with a whoop of delight. "Here's where we
nail Dan Cassey, sure."

The boys, except poor Jimmy, were unusually fleet, and they soon
overtook Cassey. Bob's hand was almost upon him when the man doubled
suddenly in his tracks and darted off into the thick underbrush.

Bob, with Herb and Joe close at his heels, was after him in a minute. He
reached a clearing just in time to see Cassey dash into an old barn
which had been hidden by the trees.

The boys plunged into the barn with Jimmy pantingly bringing up the
rear. In Bob's heart was a wild exultation. They had Cassey cornered.
Once more they would bring this criminal to justice.

"You guard the door," he called in a low tone to Joe. "See that Cassey
doesn't get out that way, and Herb and I will get after him in here."

The barn was so dark that they could hardly see to move around. There
was a window high up in the side wall, but this was so covered with dirt
and cobwebs that it was almost as though there was none.

However, Cassey must be lurking in one of those dark corners, and if
they moved carefully they were sure to capture him!

There was a loft to the barn, but if there had been a ladder leading up
to it it had long since rotted and dropped away, so that Bob was
reasonably sure the man could not be up there.

It was eery business, groping about in the musty darkness of the old
barn for a man who would go to almost any lengths of villainy to keep
from being caught.

Suddenly Bob saw something move, and, with an exultant yell, jumped
toward it. Once more he almost had his hand upon Cassey when--something
happened.

The floor of the barn seemed to open and let him through, and his chums
with him. As he fell through the hole into blackness he had confused
thoughts of an earthquake. Then he struck bottom with a solid thump that
almost made him see stars.

He heard similar thumps about him and realized that Herb and Jimmy had
followed him. Whatever it was they had shot through had evidently
magically closed up again, for they were in absolute darkness.

"Well," came in a voice which Bob recognized as Jimmy's, "I must say,
this is a nice note!"

"We've been pushed off the end of the world, I guess," said H