Page:Boys of Columbia High on the River.djvu/199

Rh the lockup, and each had a shiny pair of steel handcuffs decorating his wrists."

"Gee!"

That was all Paul said, but the look of admiration which he bent on his chum spoke volumes. He could already read between the lines, and felt positive that Frank must have been deeply concerned in the capture of the rascals. The boy who could baffle a pair of clever rogues, as Frank had done the fellows with the stolen buggy, might be depended on to accomplish anything.

Paul had a boat of his own. It was arranged for two, and many times had he and Helen floated upon the bosom of the Harrapin in the moonlight, while canoes and other craft surrounded them, and the mellow voices of Columbia's sons and daughters blended in the musical sounds that stole over the rippling waves.

"Is it down-stream we go, Frank?" he asked, as they unshipped their oars.

"So I understood Helen to say she intended going. Father has always insisted that she tell her intentions before starting out. And I've a faint notion she expected you and I would come searching after them later in the afternonafternoon [sic]. She said they would have asked us to go along only Minnie thought we might be tired out after such a morning's work, and