Page:Harry Castlemon - The Steel Horse.djvu/76

 "Good gracious!" cried Joe, starting up in his turn; "I never once thought of that."

"What are you afraid of?" inquired Rowe, whose face betrayed the keenest anxiety and apprehension. "I hope you don't think that my resemblance to your friend has brought him into difficulty."

"That is just what we are afraid of," replied Joe soothingly, while Arthur Hastings paced the room like a caged tiger. "But, of course, nobody can blame you for it. If one of the detectives you spoke of saw him, he probably mistook him for you, just as Arthur and I mistook you for Roy Sheldon. It's a case of mistaken identity, and that's all that can be made of it."

"Nonsense!" exclaimed Arthur; "it is a clear case of abduction."

"We'll have to see a lawyer about that."

"Then let's be about it. What are we wasting time here for?"

"Let us first make sure that Roy has been spirited away by somebody who thought he was Rowe Shelly. Say, Art, you remember the carriage that was driven away just as we came