as they were on the way back to the house, jack turned to bob, who was walking beside him and said:

"i hope to goodness that our adventures for today are about through. i tell you what, coming so near to death twice in one day is a bit too strenuous to suit me."

they soon reached the house and entered by the front door, which they found unlocked, with drawn revolvers. the room smelled strongly of gas, but they quickly opened the windows, and it was soon nearly all driven out. they searched the house as before, but with no success and finally came to the laboratory. here the gas was pretty bad, but one of the officers soon found where it was turned on and shut it off. they were, however, unable to find the secret hiding place of the counterfeiters, although they searched for some time. at last the captain said:138

"well, i guess we'll have to give it up for now, but i'm going to leave two of you men here to keep watch, and i'll send some one to relieve you as soon as i get back to the station." then, turning to mr. golden, "we might as well be going now, i'm not going to have that stuff down there removed till tomorrow."

on their way back bob said that they must take the night train for home, as their parents would be anxious to see them, but uncle ben said:

"your aunt lucy and i intended to run down to skowhegan in a few days anyway, and if you'll wait till morning, we'll all go together in the car. we'll telephone as soon as we get back to the house and then we'll get an early start tomorrow. what do you say?"

the boys eagerly agreed to this plan, and by the time it was settled they were at the ferry where they said goodby to captain long.

the latter went at once to the station house and sent out a general alarm for the apprehension of the counterfeiters, but we will say here that they were not caught.

on their way to winthrop, uncle ben asked the two boys to say nothing to aunt lucy regarding their narrow escape, as it would worry her, and they promised to be careful and not let it out in her hearing.139

it was nearly suppertime when they reached home, and jack at once called up his father and told him of their plans, while bob gave his aunt an account of their afternoon's trip, carefully avoiding, however, any mention of their being locked in the counterfeiter's den.

"it's too bad they escaped," she said when he had finished.

uncle ben then told her of their plans for the morrow, and she said she guessed she could get ready in time, although it was pretty short notice.

as the boys were very tired after such a strenuous day, they were in bed before nine o'clock.

"we want to be off by six o'clock," shouted uncle ben, as they went up stairs, "and i'll have to pull you out by five."

"all right," answered jack, "we'll be ready."

after they were undressed they did not forget to kneel down by the bed and thank their heavenly father for his care over them.

"george, but this has been some exciting day," declared jack as he tumbled into bed, closely followed by bob. "i don't think i would care to go through that mess again."

"i should say not," agreed bob, "we might not get off so lucky next time. i don't believe we'll ever be any nearer death again, till our time comes, than we were this afternoon."140

"i guess you're right there," then suddenly, "say, bob, do you suppose we've seen the last of those two fellows?"

"hard to tell, but i sure hope so. i'd feel a good bit better if we'd caught them this afternoon."

"same here," came sleepily from jack.

they were too tired to talk any longer and were soon fast asleep.

they were still sleeping soundly, when a little before five o'clock, their uncle awoke them.

"it's too bad to wake you, boys," he said, "but breakfast is almost ready, and we've got to be off in about an hour."

they were soon dressed and running downstairs found a hearty breakfast awaiting them, to which they did full justice.

mr. golden's car was a big roomy lozier, and by six o'clock they were off. they took the chauffeur with them, although the boys, taking turns, drove the greater part of the way. they reached portland by eleven o'clock, and stopped there for dinner. when nearly to waterville, about twenty-five miles from the cottage, a tire blew out, but as this was their only mishap, they did not complain, and a new one was quickly substituted. the run up from the latter city was made in a little over an hour, and they reached the cottage shortly after six o'clock. the boys were greeted as heroes by their parents 141and the girls, and there was great rejoicing over their safe return, old mike coming in for his share, the tears fairly rolling down his cheeks as he grasped their hands saying:

"begorra and i always did say you byes had more lives nor a cat, and all ways were sure to land on your fate."

while eating supper, bob and jack in turn, gave a full account of their adventures, except that they said nothing about being so nearly killed by gas, and their mother's face paled as she realized how nearly she had lost one, if not both of her boys. when they had finished, their father said:

"we must keep a sharp lookout for those rascals, although i hardly think they will dare to show up here again."

"say, dad," asked jack, "where's that detective?"

"we haven't seen or heard from him since you left," answered his father.

uncle ben agreed with his brother that the boys should be very careful, saying:

"there's been a lot in the papers about those fellows, that is if they're the ones we think they are, and they have a reputation for daring that has seldom been equaled."

"well," remarked bob, "i hope they keep away, as i've had all of their company that i care about for a while at least."142

"same here," agreed jack, "but i say, it's mighty funny what's got that sharp detective."

he had hardly spoken when the doorbell rang, and as the maid opened it the detective walked in. when he saw bob his eyes stuck out, as jack after expressed it, as large as saucers.

"well, i'll be blowed," he cried, "where in the world did you come from?"

and then the story had to be told over again.

"well, i'll be blessed," uttered the detective, when they had finished, "guess i'm getting too old for a job of this kind. here i've been working night and day, and have scoured the country for a distance of twenty miles in every direction, and didn't get a smell, and you," turning to jack, "find him first whack off the reel."

"i didn't find him," declared jack, "he found me," and he added, "it was a mighty lucky find for me."

mr. sharp seemed very much downcast, but mr. golden assured him that he was sure that he had done all that any one could have done.

"you, of course, didn't know that he had been taken to boston, and the two boys meeting as they did was a coincidence, which wouldn't happen twice in a thousand years. no, you needn't reproach yourself in the least."

after this the detective felt much better, but remarked 143that it was the third time in his twenty years as a detective that he had been beaten.

uncle ben then proposed that they take a run across the lake in the sprite and get their trunk, which they had sent by express, and which ought to be at the hotel. the women folks decided that they wouldn't go, so mr. golden, uncle ben, mr. sharp, who wanted to catch the night train for boston, and the two boys, composed the crew.

"so that's the wonderful cell that all the trouble has been about, is it?" asked uncle ben, as they started. "well, it certainly is a big thing and i'm proud of you boys."

on the way across, they told mr. golden of their narrow escape in the counterfeiter's den, and why they had kept silent about it at the table. he shuddered, as he realized how near death they had been and said that they had done just right in not letting their mother and aunt know about it, and mr. sharp declared that he was going to take up the search for them as soon as he got to boston.

they obtained the trunk, and saying goodby to the detective and wishing him good luck, started back for the cottage, which they reached about nine o'clock, and, as they were all tired, they soon retired for the night.

the boys spent the next day sailing on the lake with the girls, while their father and uncle went 144down to skowhegan, having some business to attend to. late in the afternoon the four young people went fishing and, in a short time, caught a good mess which they had for supper.

that night, as the boys were getting ready for bed, jack suddenly said:

"i say, bob, what's the trouble with fitting up our motorcycles with electric motors and running them with the cells?"

"just the thing! wonder why we didn't think of that before."

"huh, that's easy, guess we've had our minds fairly full of something else, lately."

"that's a fact, we have," agreed bob, "we'll go down on the wheels, first thing in the morning and see what we can do. i guess likely we can get the motors at watson's, and if we can make it a go, we'll have some bikes."

right after breakfast the next morning, they got their motorcycles out and in less than fifteen minutes, were in watson's store in skowhegan. fortunately, he had two small motors, of ten horsepower each, on hand, which seemed to the boys to be just what they wanted, and asking him to send them up to the house at once, they were soon in the laboratory hard at work.

"you start on a couple sets of caps, jack, and i'll get the electrolysis apparatus going and fill a few 145cylinders," bob had said as soon as they got there. by noon, jack had the caps done, as he had everything at hand to work with and knew how to do it, and by five o'clock, they had taken the engines apart and had the wheels all ready for the installation of the motors.

"come on now and get washed up," called bob, as he shut down the dynamo and took out two cylinders, which, he was pleased to see, were full. "that's eight we've filled today, but come get a move, we must catch that five o'clock car or we'll be late to supper."

edna and may met them at the wharf, in the sprite, and by six-thirty they were eating supper and telling the family about their day's work.146