"You can't come in here," Jones protested.

"But I'm already in, my friend," said Leonard.

"Who are you?" asked Jones.

"Why," said Leonard, "my name is Wolfe, and I am a friend of these young ladies here," he added, as the two girls appeared through the door.

Jones took a step back, surprise in his face.

"Well, what do you want?" he demanded.

"We want to know what you have done with Jimmy," declared Shirley, approaching closer and clenching her little fists.

"Jimmy?" repeated Jones, trying to look unconcerned. "And who is Jimmy, pray?"

"You know who Jimmy is," flared Mabel. "Tell us where he is."

"Oh, you mean Mr. Willing's stable boy?"

"Yes," said Shirley.

"How should I know?" asked Jones, throwing wide his arms in a gesture of ignorance.

Young Wolfe stepped close to Jones.

"There is no use pretending ignorance," he said quietly. "Show him the note, Shirley."

Shirley drew the note from her handbag and pa.s.sed it to Jones, who read it carefully. Then the latter looked up and smiled.

"I don't blame you for suspecting me, in view of this note," he said with a smile, "but just the same I shall have to deny the implication.

The boy is fooling you. I know nothing of his whereabouts."

"That," said Leonard calmly, "is a lie."

Jones took a threatening step forward, but Leonard did not give an inch.

"A liar, am I?" said Jones. "I'll show you."

His arm came up from his side, and he aimed a terrific blow at Leonard's head. But quick as he was Leonard was quicker.

With a movement he avoided the blow, and stepping forward seized Jones'

arm before the latter could recover himself. He twisted it quickly and sharply, and Jones stepped back with a cry of pain.

"None of that," said Leonard sternly. "Now, will you tell us where Jimmy is or not?"

"I have told you I don't know," said Jones.

With a sudden wrench he freed his arm and darted through the door before Leonard could make a move to stop him.

"After him quick," said Shirley. "He'll get away."

Leonard and the two girls darted through the door and down the steps after the fleeing man, but when they reached the sidewalk Jones had disappeared.

"We've lost him," she cried.

"Yes," said Mabel, "and he'll hurry to the place where Jimmy is being held, and take him some place else. It was a mistake to show him that note, for he is aware we know that Jimmy is confined some place on the creek."

"Then the best thing to do," said Leonard, "is to get down by the creek.

We may be fortunate enough to hit the right direction."

"Let's go at once then," said Shirley.

Quickly the three clambered into the car, and Shirley, who was driving, started it off with a lurch.

"Let's hope we shall not be too late," she cried over her shoulder, as the car, setting speed regulations at naught, gathered headway.

CHAPTER XVIII.-ON THE TRAIL.

The little town of Paris stretches out for a considerable distance along Stoner Creek, and for this reason Shirley realized that the chances of picking the locality where Jimmy was held prisoner were slim.

Nevertheless, there was always the chance that they might be fortunate enough to find the place.

The car rushed down Main Street, and turned to the right just off the bridge. It was Shirley's plan to get to the extreme edge of the town and then come back along the creek slowly. They had made good time, and it was hardly probable that Jones could have reached the creek before them.

They reached the northern extremity of the town without a sight of Jones, and then turning the car about, Shirley drove south slowly.

Several times the girl stopped to ask questions of pedestrians, but the result was always the same. No one seemed to know Jones, and none knew of any house containing a prisoner.

Finally Leonard called upon Shirley to stop.

"I'll get out and do a little inquiring at some of the houses along here," he said.

He alighted. At the first house he approached he gained no information, nor at the second nor at the third. At the fourth, however, he came upon a clue.

"Somebody told me," said the woman who answered his knock, "that a closed carriage drove up to old Briggs' house yesterday and that three men were in it. One went into the house with Briggs, and the others drove away."

"Did you hear what he looked like?"

"Well, he was young. That's all I know."

"And where does this man Briggs live?"

"About eight blocks south, in a little shanty. I know his nephew from Cincinnati has been staying with him. Anybody down there can tell you where Briggs lives."

Leonard thanked the woman and returned to the waiting automobile. He told the girls what he had learned, and Shirley drove the car in the direction of Briggs' home.

"Better stop a block away," said Leonard.