ths continued to move
forward. Then they came to a sudden halt. The wild man was no longer
in sight. What had become of him?

"Maybe he ran into the woods," suggested Roger.

"Perhaps, but--hark!" And our hero held up his hand. From a distance
came a scraping sound, like something sliding over a rock.

"Look!" called out the senator's son. "He's got a boat! There he
goes!"

Dave turned in the direction pointed out by his chum. Both saw a small
rowboat sweep out from under some brushwood. In it stood the wild man,
using an oar as a pole on the rocks.

"Stop!" cried Dave. "Stop, or you may be sorry for it."

"You can't catch the King of Sumatra!" yelled the wild man, and
flourished his arms and made a hideous face at them. Then he sat down
on the middle seat of the craft, placed the oars in the rowlocks, and
commenced to row rapidly down the stream.

"Well, that's the end of the chase," remarked Dave, in some disgust.

"That's right, since we haven't any boat," returned Roger. "Wonder
where he got that craft? I don't think he bought it."

"It isn't likely. Probably he saw it somewhere along the river and
simply appropriated it." And this proved to be true.

The boys watched the wild man until a bend of the stream hid rower and
craft from view. Then they turned back in the direction of the old
stone house.

"Did you get him?" demanded Buster, who was waiting with Gus at the
point where he had dropped out of the race.

"No," answered Roger, and told why.

"He sure is a cute one," went on the stout youth. "Say, if they don't
catch him soon, he'll have this whole neighborhood scared to death."

The students soon reached the old house. Here they found the two girls
and Phil, the latter with a heavy stick in his hand, ready for any
emergency. The girls had calmed down a little, but were still much
agitated.

"We were to come home in my uncle's carriage," said Mary Feversham.
"But the horse got a lame foot and so we decided to walk. We had heard
of the wild man, but did not think we would meet him. Oh, it was
dreadful!"

"He didn't hurt you, did he?" asked Dave.

"Oh, no, but he frightened us so! He danced around us and caught us by
the arms, and he wanted us to give him money! Oh, it was dreadful!"

"He ought to be in an asylum," said Dave. And then he and Roger
related how the wild man had escaped.

"I sha'n't go out alone again," said Vera Rockwell. "That is, not
until that man is captured."

"We'll