CHAPTER XVI

AN UNWILLING PILOT


Frank Allen felt a sudden thrill shoot through his entire body
when the gruff command to change his course was growled into his
ear.

He had not been at all inclined to look upon these two travelers
in a favorable light; but this was the first intimation he
received that they might be even worse than they appeared.

Of course he made no immediate reply. In fact, he was still dazed
by this puzzling turn in the strange little adventure. He had
believed that in helping the luckless victims of the accident he
was furthering his own interests, in that he would reach home long
before his chums. Now it began to look as though he had jumped
from the frying pan into the fire.

He tried to collect his thoughts and reason out the case. Why
should these men so seriously object to returning to the town of
Columbia? Had they been guilty of doing something unlawful that
made the place dangerous to them?

Once before Frank had become mixed up with a clique of men for
whom Chief of Police Hogg had warrants. He remembered the