better let us
take you back to your father. And if you will follow my advice, you
will have nothing more to do with any of them. They will only lead you
into danger and trouble."

Dick was anxious to question the girl further, but she was much shaken,
and in no condition to tell him anything more. So they all went back
to town together, and Dick himself acted as Miss Burton's escort to her
hotel.

"I will follow your advice," she promised him. "If any of those people
try to see me again, I will refuse to have anything to do with them.
But won't you come to see us, and perhaps you will be able to help us
in our search?"

"I'll be glad to do that," said Dick. "But if those people approach
you again, it might be better to pretend that you still trust them.
Don't put yourself in their hands in any way, but try to get them to
talk to you. In that way you may be able to get valuable information
that would otherwise not be available at all."

Captain Haskin, the head of the detective service of the railroad on
which Jack Danby's bravery had averted a terrible wreck, was much
concerned when he heard the story of the rescue and the ungrateful
conduct of those whose lives had been saved.

"We've got to look after Danby," he said. "He's an important witness
for us, and if he turns up missing, it's going to be more difficult to
get a conviction, though perhaps not impossible. But I think there's
more than that in their attempt to get rid of him."

"What do you mean, Captain?" asked Dick Crawford.

"Why, I don't know, my boy. But these people are not loyal enough to
one another as a rule to lead them to run such risks as these villains
have encountered just to get rid of a witness who may be damaging to
some of them who have been captured. When one or two of them are
caught, those who escape are usually so glad to get off free themselves
that they disappear and make no effort to help those who were not so
fortunate. The fact that they have kept after Danby this way is very
suspicious."

"Well, I happen to know," said Dick, "that there are people who seem to
have a grudge against Jack, or at least who have an interest in
maintaining a mystery that exists as to his birth. I don't like to
talk about that as a rule, because it's his own-business, but I'd
better tell you. He does not know his real name, or who his parents
were, and it is the ambition of his life to discover them. Since he
came away from Woodleigh