upstairs in the hotel once more.
To his surprise he saw Mr. David Ball sitting in a rocking-chair, calmly
smoking a cigar and reading a paper.

"He isn't as sick as he was this morning," he mused. "In fact, I don't
think he is sick at all."

He wished to be on hand the following morning, when the strangers came
back, but an errand took him up the lake. He had to stop at several
places, and did not start on the return until four in the afternoon.

On his way back Joe went ashore close to where the old lodge was
located, and something, he could not tell what, made him run over and
take a look at the spot that had proved a shelter for Ned and himself
during the heavy storm. How many things had occurred since that fatal
day!

As our hero looked into one of the rooms he remembered the strange men
he had seen there--the fellows who had talked about mining stocks. Then,
of a sudden, a revelation came to him, like a thunderbolt out of a clear
sky.

"I've got it! I've got it!" he cried. "Mr. David Ball is that fellow
who called himself Malone, and Anderson is the man named Caven! They are
both imposters!"

CHAPTER XI.

A FRUITLESS CHASE.

The more Joe thought over the matter the more he became convinced that
he was right. He remembered a good deal of the talk he had overheard
during the storm, although such talk had, for the time being, been
driven from his mind by the tragic death of old Hiram Bodley.

"If they are working some game what can this Maurice Vane have to do
with it?" he asked himself.

He thought it best to get back to the hotel at once, and tell Mr.
Mallison of his suspicions. But, as luck would have it, scarcely had he
started to row his boat again when an oarlock broke, and so it took him
the best part of an hour to make the trip.

"Where is Mr. Mallison?" he asked of the clerk of the hotel.

"Out in the stable, I believe," was the answer.

Without waiting, our hero ran down to the stable and found the hotel
proprietor inspecting some hay that had just been unloaded.

"I'd like to speak to you a moment, Mr. Mallison," he said. "It's
important," and he motioned for the man to follow him.

"What is it, Joe?"

"It's about those men who called to see that sick man, and about the
sick man, too."

"He has gone--all of them have gone."

"What!" ejaculated our hero. "The sick man, too?"

"Exactly. But he didn't go with the others. While they were here he was
in bed, but right after the