e, chuckling at the savage threats and
exclamations from the two men, who, without a stitch of clothing, would
certainly not dare to pursue them very far, for fear of being seen in
that state of nature, as well as for the brambles and thorns that would
scratch them if they attempted to make their way through the woods
without the protection of clothes and, more especially, shoes.

At the camp they found Dick Crawford, who had returned with Tom Binns.
The two women, their clothes dry by this time, had taken possession of
the hut to make themselves presentable, and Dick in silent astonishment
heard Jack's story.

"There's something queer behind all this," said he. "The attack those
fellows made on Jack shows that they are pretty hard characters. Why,
he'd just saved their lives for them!"

CHAPTER XI

THE MYSTERY DEEPENS

They stood together for a moment, puzzled and silent, trying to figure
out what it could mean. The two women were quiet. So far they had had
nothing to do with the attack on Jack. In the distance, perhaps a
hundred feet or so away, they could hear the men, whose clothes Jack
and Pete had taken, cursing and demanding that their property be
returned.

"Keep quiet, you!" Dick Crawford called to them. "You'll get your
things when you've given some account of yourselves and we're ready to
give them to you. If you make any more disturbance around here, you
won't get them at all. Remember that!"

A deep silence followed, and Pete laughed.

"Guess that scared them some, Dick," he said. "I don't think they'd
fancy the idea of going back to the city that way. In funny papers, if
a man loses his clothes, he always fetches up with a barrel. But I
always did wonder where he found the barrel!"

Dick looked doubtfully at the little heap of clothing.

"I don't suppose we ought to leave them out there without any clothes
at all," said he. "But I do think, after the way they've acted, that
we've got a right to look and see if there are any weapons. They would
be useless, in any case, after the wetting they've had, but--"

He picked up the coats of the two men and shook out the pockets. Sure
enough, a pistol fell from each, and from one there also dropped a
black mask.

"That doesn't look very well for them," he said. "I think, Tom, you'd
better go to a telephone and see if you can get Captain Haskin to meet
us here. He or some of his railroad detectives may know something
about these