“We ought to have the authorities arrest him,” put in Sam.

“Perhaps, but we’ve got to locate him first.  Now that he has been discovered he will do his best to keep shady.  Maybe he has already left the city.”

They talked the matter over for an hour, but could reach no satisfactory conclusion.

“Better take matters as they come,” said Powell.  “He won’t dare to molest you openly.”

“No, but he will molest us in secret, which will be worse,” replied Sam.

“None of the ladies or the girls must hear of this,” said Tom.  “It would spoil their whole trip, even if Baxter didn’t show himself again.”

“I ton’t oben mine mouds apout noddings,” declared Hans.  “I vos so quiet like an ellerfaunt in a church!”

Bright and early the boys were astir on the following morning, and Dick, Tom, and Sam went off to interview Captain Starr before breakfast.  They found the captain a thick-set fellow, with a heavy mustache and big, bushy whiskers.  He had eyes of the dreamy sort, which generally looked away when speaking to anybody.

“This is Captain Starr?” said Dick, addressing him.

“I’m your man.”

“I am Dick Rover, and these are my brothers, Tom and Sam.”

Dick put out his hand, but the captain merely nodded.

“Is everything ready for the trip, captain?” asked Tom.

“Yes, sir.”

“You had the boat cleaned up?” said Sam.

“Yes, sir.”

“We’ll look her over,” said Dick.

“Yes, sir.”

They walked over the houseboat from end to end.  The craft was certainly a beauty and as clean as a whistle.  There was a living room, a dining room, a kitchen, and eight sleeping rooms—­four of the latter downstairs and four upstairs.  Each sleeping room contained two berths.  There was also a bunk room below, for the help, and a small room for the captain.  In the living room, was the piano and also a bookcase containing half a hundred choice novels.

“This is certainly great,” said Tom.

“Better than I thought it would be,” answered Sam.  “It’s a perfect palace.”

“And see how the brasswork shines,” went on Tom.  “The captain certainly had things cleaned up.

“But he is a queer stick, if ever there was one.” came from Dick, in a whisper.  “I must say, I don’t half like him.”

“He acts as if he was asleep,” was Tom’s comment.

“Or else as if he had something on his mind.”

“Anyway, he comes highly recommended,” said Sam.

When they came out on the deck they found Captain Starr sitting on a bench smoking a corncob pipe.

“She is in fine shape and I congratulate you, captain,” said Dick, pleasantly.

“Thank you,” was the short answer.

“You will be ready to have us taken down the river as soon as we get our things on board?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Confound him,” thought Dick.  “Why doesn’t he say something else?  He is a regular automaton.”