For a moment he
thought he must be mistaken; that, after all, he had come to the wrong
place. But a quick search of the ground with his flashlight showed him that
he had come to the right spot. He could see the tracks made by the wheels
of the machine; he could see, also, evidences of the brief struggle between
Harry and Graves. For a moment his mystification continued. But then, with
a low laugh, Jack Young emerged from the cover in which he had been hiding.

"Hello, there!" he said. "I say, are you Dick Mercer?"

"Yes!" gasped Dick. "But how ever do you know? I never saw you before!"

"Well, you see me now," said Jack. "Harry Fleming told me to look for you
here. He said you'd be along some time to-night, if you got away. And he
was sure you could get away, too."

"Harry!" said Dick, dazed. "You've seen him? Where is he? Did he get away?
And what happened to the cycles and the papers we hid there? Why--"

"Hold on! One question at a time," said Jack. "Keep your shirt on, and I'll
tell you all I know about it. Then we can decide what is to be done next. I
think I'll attach myself temporarily to your patrol."

"Oh, you're a scout, too, are you?" asked Dick. That seemed to explain a
good deal. He was used to having scouts turn up to help him out of trouble.
And so he listened as patiently as he could, while Jack explained what had
happened.

"And that's all I know," said Jack, finally, when he had carried the tale
to the point where Harry rode off on the repaired motorcycle in pursuit of
Ernest Graves. "I should think you might really know more about it now than
I do."

"Why, how could I? You saw it all!"

"Yes, that's true enough. But you know Harry and I were too busy to talk
much after we found that motor was out of order. All I know is that when we
got here we found someone I'd never seen before and never want to see again
messing about with the cycles. We thought it must be you, of course--at
least Harry did, and of course I supposed he ought to know."

"And then you found it was Ernest Graves?"

"Harry did. He took one look at him--and then they started right in
fighting. Harry seemed to be sure that was the thing to do. If I'd been in
his place, I'd have tried to arbitrate, I think. This chap Graves was a lot
bigger than he. He was carrying weight for age. You see, I don't know yet
who Graves is, or why Harry wanted to start fighting him that way. I've
been waiting patiently for you to come along, so t