out of the rig and started to run. But, as he did so,
Jack and Billy, who had crawled out from the back, suddenly appeared.
Bill gave a wild shout, and the next instant he was sprawling headlong
in the dusty street, while a crowd came rushing from all directions.

Jack had tripped him by an old football trick. With an oath the
desperado reached for his revolver. But, before he could reach it, he
was pinioned by a dozen pairs of hands, and marched, struggling and
swearing, into the police station.

He was searched, and Billy's watch found on him, as well as the money.
Then he was locked up. He refused to give any information about the
Judsons, in which he showed his astuteness, for, if they had been
caught, his plight would have been worse than it was, for they would
have been certain to implicate him deeply. So he contented himself by
saying that he knew nothing about them. They had hired him to help the
elder Judson recover his nephew from another uncle, who had treated him
badly. He knew nothing more about the case, he declared, except that,
after Jack's escape, the Judsons had left for New York. (It may be said
here that he was eventually found guilty of the theft and the assault
and received a jail sentence.)

Abner was well rewarded for the clever way he had brought about Bill's
capture; and, well pleased with the way everything had come out, the
boys resumed their journey.

"I hope Abner will invest part of what I gave him in an ear-trumpet,"
said Jack, as they entered Musky Bay.

"I hope so," laughed Billy. He was going to add something, but a shout
stopped him.

"There's Captain Simms and Noddy," shouted Jack, as the two came running
toward the vehicle. There is no need to go into the details of the
reunion, or to relate what anxious hours the captain and Noddy had gone
through after their discovery that the boys had vanished. If they had
not reappeared when they did, Captain Simms was preparing to organize
posses and make a wide search for them, as well as enlisting the aid of
the authorities. In the vague hope that the Judsons and Jarrow might
have remained in the stone house, waiting Bill's return, a party
searched it next day, under the guidance of a native who knew the trail
to it. But it was empty. A search for the black motor boat, too,
resulted in nothing being found of her.

As a matter of fact, not many minutes after Bill, from whom they wished
to be separated, had left the house, the Judsons-