iginate at the mansion. There's no other place on the creek
that seems likely. Two, the house is inhabited by a man who doesn't like
questions. Three, said man has a bodyguard who gets rough. Four, one man
already is missing, perhaps because he got curious. Enough said?"

The boys nodded soberly.

"Then go to it, whenever you feel like it--after you've dropped me at
the airport, that is. Be here by four this afternoon. If I don't call,
meet the five-o'clock flight. If I do, it will mean I've gotten tied
up."

Steve hesitated. "Just one more thing. Be _really_ careful. All I have
is a hunch, but that hunch tells me we're up against something
dangerous. If Link Harris is dead, as he probably is, there's a fair
chance he was murdered."

The agent's keen eyes met theirs in turn. "Don't get into a spot you
can't get out of," he concluded.

CHAPTER IX

The Duck Blind

Orvil Harris had described the opening to the hidden waterway, but when
the boys examined the line of reeds and marsh grass there was no sign of
it. "He said thirty yards downstream," Scotty remembered.

Rick was at the wheel of the runabout. "Climb out on the bow," he
suggested. "Take the boat hook with you. I'll just keep nosing in until
we find it."

"Okay." Scotty took the short, aluminum boat hook from its fastenings in
the small cockpit, stood up on the seat, and stepped over the windshield
to the bow. For a moment he surveyed the shoreline from his higher
vantage point. "There's a place that looks promising." He held the boat
hook out like a spear, pointing.

Rick put the runabout in gear, and moved forward at idling speed.
Looking over the side, he could see the bottom clearly. They were in
only two feet of water, and the outboard was stirring up mud at the
stern.

"No good," Scotty called. "That one doesn't go anywhere. Try upstream
another six feet."

Rick turned the boat, watching for the opening Scotty had spotted. He
saw it a moment later. "Looks too small," he called back.

"I think it opens up. Go ahead slow."

The runabout nosed up to the almost solid line of tall swamp grass, and
Scotty leaned forward. "I think this is it. Take it easy."

The heavy grass rubbed on both sides of the boat, but nothing impeded
its progress. The runabout pushed through the brown-green swale until it
was almost enclosed by the grass. Then they were through, into a narrow
channel with high grass on both sides. It was hard for Rick to see ah