"You see we gave your friends the slip," smiled Jones. "Now we'll just leave them behind."

"What are you going to do with us?" demanded Shirley.

"Never mind," returned her captor. "You'll find out soon enough."

At that moment there came a shout from the sh.o.r.e, and turning, the girls saw their friends rushing down toward the water. Jones muttered to himself.

"Why couldn't we have had a little better start?"

Shirley rose in her seat and waved to her friends.

"Sit down there," said Jones harshly, half rising.

Shirley obeyed, for she knew that she had been seen, and felt certain of speedy relief.

Ash.o.r.e, the five were hurriedly piling into the other boat, the one occupied by Jones when the chase had started, and soon it was coming after them. But the _Sybil_ was much faster, as already had been proven, and it seemed that there was little likelihood of the pursuers catching up with them.

The _Sybil_ gained rapidly and it was plain she would soon run away from the pursuer.

Jones, sitting a few feet from Shirley, drew a pipe from his pocket, and filled it calmly.

"I hope you young ladies do not object," he said, and struck a match.

Suddenly Shirley jumped to her feet and rushed at Jones, thinking to catch him unprepared and push him into the water. But Jones was too quick for her. He stood up, stepped aside, and it seemed a miracle that Shirley did not go overboard.

Jones smiled.

"I wouldn't try it again if I were you," he said quietly. "I am not to be caught napping."

He sat down again, and Shirley resumed her seat.

Now the _Sybil_ lost sight of her pursuer around a bend in the stream.

From this point on the creek wound about more frequently, and it was plain to Shirley that the pursuers were hopelessly outdistanced.

Then Jones spoke to Briggs.

"Run ash.o.r.e," he commanded.

Briggs obeyed without a word, and a few moments later, they all stepped out upon the bank.

"Come," said Jones, "let's get out of sight before our friends arrive."

He motioned the two girls to precede him along what they found to be a narrow path.

"Briggs," said Jones, "you go back and start the launch down the creek by itself. Then they won't know where we are."

Briggs hastened to obey, and a moment later the _Sybil_ was moving out of sight around another bend.

"They won't find us now," said Jones.

Taking advantage of a moment when Jones was not looking, Mabel quietly hung her white handkerchief upon a bush. It was in plain view of the creek.

Shirley saw her friend's action, but dared not show she had, by even the slightest change of expression.

CHAPTER XX.-APPARENT VICTORY.

Meanwhile, where was the second launch and crew? Even going at full speed, it was plainly evident to all on board that there was little prospect of overtaking the _Sybil_.

When the party had returned to the bank of the stream after an unsuccessful search of the little woods, it had not needed the wave of Shirley's hand from the _Sybil_ to tell them what had happened. It was d.i.c.k who spoke first.

"They have doubled back on their tracks and captured the girls and the launch," he exclaimed when he noticed Shirley and Mabel were nowhere to be seen.

The others cried out in alarm. In the distance they could see the launch speeding down the stream. It was at that moment Shirley rose and waved to them. Leonard's keen eyes caught the signal, and he cried out:

"Into the other launch quick and after them!"

Hastily jumping aboard, the second launch was put into motion and they gave chase at full speed.

But the _Sybil_ gained steadily.

"It's no use," said Jenkins. "We can't catch them. As I told you, the _Sybil_ can outrun anything in these parts."

"We'll keep after them anyhow," said d.i.c.k. "You never can tell what will happen. They may meet with an accident."

And so the five continued their apparently hopeless pursuit. An hour later, Leonard, who stood in the extreme bow of the launch, straining his eyes ahead, exclaimed aloud. The others looked at him eagerly, and he pointed straight ahead.

"There's the _Sybil_," he cried. "She's run ash.o.r.e. They must have landed."

A few minutes later the launch ran up alongside the _Sybil_ and all jumped out.

"If we only knew which way they went," said Leonard.

d.i.c.k had been looking at the ground carefully. In the soft mud there was not a single footprint. d.i.c.k looked at the engine of the _Sybil_. It was still running.

"They didn't land here," he said quietly.

"What?" exclaimed Leonard.

"I say, they didn't land here."

"How do you make that out?"

"Well, if they had landed here there would certainly be footprints. They couldn't have walked through this soft mud without leaving tracks."