"Go ahead."

"What for?" asked Mr. Perry. "Shall we dash to the rescue and face those
four men, who probably are armed with pistols?"

"No, of course not. Anyway, we don't know where they are. They may be
twenty-five miles from here, for all we know."

"Then we'll have to give up the search if you don't get any more messages
from him," declared the boy's father.

"That's so," Cub admitted. "And if those men captured him and took him
away in their boat, this affair will have to remain a mystery in our
lives forever afterward."

"You'd better go back to the cabin and see if Bud and Hal got any more
messages from him," suggested Mr. Perry.

"That's the only hope left," said Cub as he turned to go.

But this "last hope" proved to be vain. Bud and Hal were both still
listening-in, but with little suggestion of expectancy on their
countenances.

"Anything more?" inquired the tall youth, unwilling to put his question
in negative form, in spite of the fact that his better judgment would
have dictated it thus.

Both listeners shook their heads.