, attempts have been made to find out what has
become of him, and a man who was concerned in an attempt to rob me of a
considerable sum of money that I was carrying for my employer is one of
those who seems most anxious to find out all about Jack. He knows the
secret of his birth."

"That would explain," said the detective, "the whole business at once.
Now, you see, you've given me something to work on. The railroad can't
feel at ease until all the men concerned in that plot that so nearly
wrecked the Limited the other night are safely in jail. It isn't that
we're vindictive, but when men are ready to imperil the lives of the
passengers on the trains we run, it isn't safe for us to let them be at
large. They may make another attempt, and there is no way of being
sure that the next time we shall be able to stop them. It was all a
matter of luck that blocked their plan before--and we can't trust to
luck in such matters. It might cost a hundred lives to do so."

"Well, if we can help you in any way, you can depend on us to do
anything in our power, Captain. I think any of our boys in the Scouts
would do anything for Jack Danby, and, of course, we want to do
anything we can to help the railroad safeguard its trains, for the sake
of all the people who have to ride on them."

"The most important thing right now is to see that nothing happens to
Danby. They have been so bold and so determined in their efforts to
put him out of the way already that I am afraid they are not likely to
stop at the two attempts. One thing seems very curious to me. The man
who carried him off from the camp was entirely willing to kill
him--planned to do so, didn't he?"

"So Jack says. And he is not the sort to be scared by idle threats."

"Just so! But now here is a queer thing. These people that tried to
carry him off to-day used the same boat as the man who took him from
the camp. Presumably they would have served him the same way as the
other scoundrel would have done. And yet they seem also to want to get
in touch with Jack himself--and not for the purpose of killing him..
It looks as if they were working at cross purposes--as if they did not
know that the boy who foiled the train-wrecking plot and the one they
have lost are one and the same. Don't you see?"

"I certainly do! Say, this is a confused affair, isn't it?"

"It's like a Chinese puzzle. But we'll work it out somehow."

CHAPTER XII

AN UNGRATEFUL PAREN