Part 29 (1/2)

”Well, when we released Jimmie and let the two guards escape, that part of the game was off. If I could have held the men it would have been different.”

”Perhaps Bradley can be made to tell where the prince is,” suggested Jack.

”I hardly thinks he knows,” Ned replied. ”He has not, I think, been taken fully into the confidence of the men higher up, any more than have the men who guarded Jimmie.”

”He certainly knows where my grandson is,” exclaimed the old lady, ”and I'll tear his heart out but I'll make him tell me. He took him away!”

”I am not so certain of that, either,” Ned mused. ”I don't know just how far the criminal head of the conspiracy has trusted him.”

”You'll do all you can to find my boy, won't you?” pleaded the old lady.

”Don't worry about the boy,” Ned urged. ”Well find him. If Frank and Jimmie have had good luck Bradley is under arrest now, and something will be brought out to lead to his discovery. Besides, with the disguise penetrated, there is no longer any motive for holding him, unless he knows too much, which is not likely.”

”If his father was here he might help,” suggested the old lady.

Jack, who had been looking steadily out of the window for some little time, now turned to Ned with a smile on his face.

”I know now what you wrote in your little red book!” he said.

”Are you certain of that?”

”Why, of course. You wrote the answer to the question: 'Is it the prince, or is it Mike III?' Didn't you, now?”

”Yes, I did!” was the reply. ”I was almost positive before, but I knew that day.”

”And now we are just where we began,” Jack said. ”We've solved one phrase of the case, but we haven't found the prince.”

”That will come later,” Ned declared, confidently. ”Well,” he went on, ”we have finished our work here for the present. We have learned of the disappearance of the grandson and we have confirmed my previous belief, that the boy was sent in here to draw our attention from the abducted child. So we may as well go back to camp and see what the boys have been doing.”

The old lady still clung to Ned piteously, begging him to restore her boy, and Ned promised to do all in his power to place the lad in her arms.

”If my son would only come!” the woman kept saying.

”If you'll give me his address,” Ned promised, ”I'll see him when I get back to Was.h.i.+ngton, if he is not already here or on his way here.”

The address was given and the boys started on the return trip to camp.

”Now, Jack,” Ned said, when they were on their way up the slope, ”do you know where the nearest telegraph station is?”

”There's one over on the south fork of the Potomac,” Jack replied.

”You are good friends with Uncle Ike?” Ned then asked, with a laugh.

”Sure I am. Uncle Ike is a friend of every person who carries sugar in his pocket.”

”Well, when we get back to camp I'll give you a night message. You must take the mule and get it to the station. You may not be able to get there to-night. If you can't, send it when you do get there. Wait for an answer. When you get it tell Uncle Ike it is important and get here with it as soon as possible. You've got a hard trip ahead of you, boy!” he added. ”I'm game!” laughed Jack. ”If there's any of this prince trouble leaked out,” he added, ”what shall I say?”

”Tell the old story. Say that we are in the hills for art's sake, and that we have been annoyed by counterfeiters! Nothing serious, understand? Not a word about our real mission here. You notice that even the men we are battling with want it understood that it is the counterfeiters who are trying to drive us out.”

”There must be something mighty strange about this abduction game,”