"say, jack, i've got an idea," said bob that night after they were in bed.

"all right, fire ahead, i'm listening. you do say something sensible once in a while and i'm willing to take a chance."

"well, i believe we could find that house where i was shut up."

"think so?" asked jack, full of interest now.

"of course i'm not sure, but i recognized a house not more than seven or eight miles from it, and if we go there on the wheels, we could search the country pretty well in a short time. let's try it tomorrow. what do you say?"

"i say yes, that is, if father will let us, and what's more, we'll find it, too, if they haven't lugged it off. we have to be mighty careful though, for those fellows may be in hiding there."

at the breakfast table, the next morning, bob announced their plan, but mr. golden shook his head.153

"i'm afraid you'll get into trouble," he declared.

"but," argued jack, "we ought to do something toward finding those fellows and, if we can locate the house, we can have it searched by officers and have them nabbed if they are there."

mr. golden finally consented, but made them promise that they would be very careful and not run any risks. getting the cook to put them up a good lunch, they were soon ready to start.

"that house," explained bob, as they rode along side by side, "can't be many miles this side of oakland. we'll go to waterville first and then cross over to oakland, then we'll take the road to norridgewock and look for that woods road. i suppose we might go by the way of norridgewock. it would be shorter, but i guess the roads are better the other way."

the road to skowhegan was rough and mostly down hill, and they did not dare to run very fast, but once outside the latter town, on the road to waterville, they let the machines out and reached the city in forty-five minutes from the time they left home. as they rode through the city, people stared in amazement at them as they failed to hear the customary chug-chug of the engine.

they made no stop and were soon in oakland, a little village about three miles to the west of waterville. here they stopped at a drug store for a glass of soda water, as the ride had made them 154thirsty. when they came out, they found that several people had collected and were examining the wheels.

"say, bub, what kind of an engine you got here?" asked one man.

now neither of the boys liked being called "bub," but they had been taught to be polite, and jack explained that it was an electric motor.

"well—well, i want to know! how do you run it?"

"oh, that's a secret," laughed bob, as they got into the saddles and rode off.

in about fifteen minutes they reached the house which bob had recognized, and turning to his brother, he said:

"now, jack, here's where our search begins. it can't be very far from here and as it's only ten o'clock now, we've got several hours to hunt."

"wouldn't it be a good plan to inquire at the house and see if they know anything about the place?"

"not a bad idea," agreed bob, getting off his wheel and running it into the yard. telling jack, who had followed him, to hold the cycles he knocked on the door. a slovenly looking woman answered the knock, and when he explained their errand, she gave a sudden start and said rather gruffly:155

"no, i don't know of no such place," and shut the door in his face.

"i'll just bet my old hat that she does, all the same," declared bob, as he rejoined his brother, then as the latter agreed with him, he added:

"i guess we better not make any more inquiries round here; some of these people may be in league with those fellows."

mounting, they proceeded and had gone only about a mile, when they came to where the road forked.

"any idea which is the right road?" asked jack, as he stopped his wheel and dismounted.

"not an idea. guess we'll flip a penny. heads to the right, tails to the left, here goes."

heads it was, so they started off to the right. it was a fairly smooth road, so they made pretty good speed for about three miles, when bob said:

"now we'd better slow up a little and begin to look carefully. if we're on the right track that road can't be a great ways from here, and it may be nearer than i think."

"do you know which side of the road it is?"

"yes, it's to our right. now let's ride on slowly and keep our eyes peeled."

much of the way was through thick woods, and as they rode slowly along, they closely scanned the woods to their right, watching for a woods road. they had gone on in this way for several miles, 156when suddenly, they came out of a thick piece of woods. so far, they had seen nothing that in anyway resembled what they were after, but, about a mile farther on, jack spied a rough road leading through a field to the right.

"suppose that's it?" he asked, bringing his wheel to a stop.

"no, that can't be it, because i'm sure that it was in the woods, for i remember hearing the branches hit the top of the car all the way along till we got out where we turned into the main road, and another thing, i remember just before we turned, the car giving a terrific lurch as though we had crossed a good-sized gully beside the road, and you see, there's no such place here. no, this is not the road and we might as well go on."

they rode on for several miles, part of the time passing through woods, when they went slowly, and again through the open, where they speeded up. finally, about eleven-thirty, bob stopped his wheel and said:

"i guess we've taken the wrong road and might as well go back and try the other one."

to this jack agreed, and by the time they reached the forks of the road, it was noon, and as they saw a small spring near the roadside, they decided to eat their lunch before going on. they had just finished, when they saw a farmer, followed by a huge mastiff, coming toward them.157

"gee, bob, just look at the size of that dog, will you?"

"he sure is some dog all right," replied bob. "i wouldn't want to meet him when he wasn't feeling in a good humor."

by this time the man was within speaking distance.

"say, young fellers, what yer want round here?" he asked in a harsh tone, while his manner was most offensive.

"why," asked bob, pleasantly, "do you own this road?"

"now don't you get gay with me, young feller."

"no one's getting gay; you asked me a question and i asked you one. now, as you asked yours first, i'll answer it and then you can do as you please about answering mine, but i think we have a right here in the public road without being growled at. now then, we are taking a ride on our wheels seeing the country."

the farmer looked rather uneasy while bob was talking.

"huh, mebby so, but yer the fellers what stopped at my house down the road here a bit, 'bout two hours ago, and was asking the old woman something about a house what was hid in the woods, hain't yer?"

"yes, we did stop and make an inquiry," replied bob. "anything wrong about that?"158

"mebby not, only they hain't any sech place round here and yer needn't go to hunting for any."

"well," asked jack, laughing slightly, "if there's no such place where's the harm in our looking for it?"

the farmer perceived that he had made a slip, and grumbling something about fool kids poking their noses round where they had no business, he started off up the road to the right, the dog following close behind.

"well, well, the plot thickens, as the hero says in the play. jack, that man knows something about that place, and what's more, he don't want us to know anything about it."