nk, you don't
mean to go all the way to Bloomsbury, and put the police in possession
of the few facts we've succeeded in picking up."

"That was not my calculation at all," replied the other, "in the first
place, we suspect a good deal, but up to now we haven't got very much
positive evidence on which to found a case. I'd like to know a little
more before I get the Chief on the wire, and put him wise."

"Then when we get near the northern end of the lake perhaps you'll think
it best to make a landing somewhere, and prowl around on foot, finding
out what we can," Andy, continued eagerly; for he had become much worked
up by this time, and was hoping that fortune would be as kind to them as
on a previous occasion, which all Bloomsbury remembered very well.

"If we can only find a decent opening where we could make a get-away
again, that is the only thing that bothers me," Frank replied.

"Now, I remember noticing a field near what seemed to be a lonely
farmhouse; in fact there were a number of open places there, and they
seemed to have Canada thistles growing in clumps, all a-bloom, as if the
farmer had given up cultivating, and let things just go to rack and
ruin. I was never up there myself, but from what I've heard my father
say, I rather think that must be the Hoskins place. They say he
consulted some fortune teller a couple of years ago, who told him he
would some day discover a gold mine on his property that would make him
a millionaire; and ever since the farmer has spent about all his time
digging here and there, but up to now without any success at all."

"Why, yes, I remember hearing a lot about the queer old farmer myself,"
Frank went on to say. "He's got a wife, and a half-grown daughter named
Sallie. I met her at a country dance last winter, and she's a pretty
nice sort of a girl. Now, we've been on the move a good while, Andy, and
perhaps we might manage to make the Hoskins farm around the dinner
hour."

"A bully good idea, too, Frank, and don't you forget it!" cried the
other, with considerable show of enthusiasm. "Now, I just bolted what
little breakfast I got this morning, and already I feel hungry enough to
eat nearly anything. And speaking generally, these country people do set
a great table; though I don't know how it will be with the Hoskins,
because, if they've been neglecting their farm to chase around after
rainbows, they probably won't be any too flush with supplies. But any
port in a storm,