another flooded section of roadway.
“Oh! Oh!” said Mr. Hatfield, pulling up just before he reached the sheet of water. “This time, I’m afraid we’re stuck.”
The flooded area extended perhaps seventy-five yards. At the deepest point of the water a station wagon had stalled. Two men were endeavoring without much success to push the vehicle.
“We might lend them a hand,” Mr. Hatfield suggested. “No chance of getting through here ourselves. We’ll have to turn back.”
Dan had been staring fixedly at the station wagon. “Mr. Hatfield!” he exclaimed excitedly. “Isn’t that the same car that’s been going in and out of Mr. Silverton’s place?”
“It sure looks like Freeze and Bauer!” added Brad before the Cub leader could speak. “They’re stuck like a couple of whales in a puddle!”
“Mr. Silverton intends to swear out a warrant for their arrest,” Dan said. “I’ll bet an Indian head cent they’re driving out of town and intend to skip!”
“Unless we can stop them,” said Brad, looking hopefully at the Cub leader.
“We can’t start a fight without good cause,” Mr. Hatfield replied. “If Mr. Silverton were here, or the police—”
Brad had noticed a lighted dwelling only a short distance from the roadway.
“Say, why can’t I sneak over there and telephone Mr. Silverton!” he proposed. “If I get in touch with him, maybe he’ll decide to have those men arrested right now.”
“Go ahead, Brad,” Mr. Hatfield urged, swinging open the car door for him. “Dan and I will stay here and keep watch.”
Without attracting the attention of the two men, Brad darted up the hill and was lost to view. Dan and the Cub leader remained in the car, watching.
The pair in the station wagon had pushed the vehicle for a short distance. There encountering deeper water, they gave up in disgust.
“I think they’ve about decided to start off afoot now,” Mr. Hatfield observed. “In that case, they may elude us.”
“Can’t we try to stop them?”
“We can try, Dan. But without an arrest warrant or proof that the men are guilty of any crime, there’s very little we can do.”
Just then Brad came hurrying down the hillside to the car.
“I reached Silverton and he’s called police!” he reported breathlessly. “A cruiser or patrol car should come along in a few minutes. Silverton and Dobbs are driving over too. They’re ready to swear out a warrant.”
“Good!” Mr. Hatfield exclaimed. “But will we be able to hold the pair until help gets here?”
Freeze and his companion, apparently abandoning all hope of pushing the station wagon to dry pavement, had begun to unload their luggage.
“They are skipping town!” Dan declared anxiously. “I guess they must have wised up after they failed to find the crate of pheasants at Mr. Silverton’s place.”
“Here they come now,” Brad muttered a minute later as the two men splashed through the water toward the car. “Oh, heck! If we don’t think of something, they’ll get away!”
Mr. Hatfield, however, did not intend to allow the pair to escape without at least an attempt to hold them. Warning the Cubs to remain in the car, he stepped out onto the road just as the two waded up carrying their heavy luggage.
“Stuck?” he inquired casually.
“Looks like it, don’t it?” growled Jake Freeze. “You can’t get through with your car. I’d advise you to turn around and go back the way you came.”
“Guess I will,” Mr. Hatfield said easily. “You’re abandoning your station wagon?”
“We’re in a hurry to catch a train,” Freeze answered. “We’ll have it towed in by a garage.”
“Maybe I can give you a lift to town,” Mr. Hatfield offered, stalling for time.
“Sure, we’ll appreciate it,” Bauer growled. “I’m tellin’ you we’ve had a rotten run o’ luck tonight.”
Mr. Hatfield turned his car around in the narrow road, taking as long as he possibly could. Then he swung open the rear door for the two men to enter.
As Freeze settled himself, he gave Brad and Dan a sharp glance, noticing their Scout uniforms.
“Cubs!” he exclaimed. “Say, haven’t I seen you kids somewhere?”
“Why, we wouldn’t know,” Brad answered. “Unless maybe it was in Webster City.”
“Cubs!” the man repeated. “Now I got it! Dobbs was telling us that they were swarming over the Silverton place and might make trouble—”
“Trouble?” Dan interposed innocently. “What sort of trouble?”
But neither Freeze nor his companion was to be trapped into further speech.
Suddenly suspicious, they started to get out of the car.
“Thanks for offering a lift,” Freeze muttered, “but we’ll telephone for a tow car.”
Mr. Hatfield had observed the headlights of two approaching vehicles.
“It won’t be necessary to telephone,” he said with quiet jubilation. “I rather think help is coming now.”
Even as the Cub leader spoke, Mr. Silverton’s car drove up, followed by a police cruiser.
Freeze and Bauer, abandoning their luggage, made a dash for the hill. Belatedly they realized that they had fallen into a trap.
Mr. Silverton and Saul Dobbs had leaped from the sportsman’s car. Deliberately, they cut off escape.
“Just a minute!” the owner of the pheasant farm said, stepping in front of Freeze and Bauer. “I have a few questions to ask you two.”
“Such as?” Freeze demanded insolently.
“For one thing, I want to know why you’ve been shipping my pheasants out of town? And trespassing on my property?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Freeze muttered, trying without success to shove past the sportsman.
“We don’t know nothin’ about any pheasants,” Bauer added.
“I think you do,” Mr. Silverton corrected. “You needn’t deny that you’ve been trespassing. Dobbs already has confessed his part.”
“Why, you dirty double-crosser!” Freeze accused, starting for the workman. “I’ll get you for this!”
Before he could lay hands on Dobbs, he was firmly grasped by a police officer who informed
