“Boat, ahoy, there!” was the call.

“Ahoy!” answered the man on the first launch.

“Got any passengers on board?”

“No.”

“What’s your tow?”

“A houseboat.”

“Who is on board?”

“I don’t know exactly.  What do you want to know for?”

“We are looking for a couple of horse thieves who ran away from Kepples about two hours ago.”

“I haven’t seen anything of any horse thieves.”

The second launch now came up to the houseboat.  As may be surmised Dan Baxter and Lew Flapp had listened to the talk with keen interest.

“Those chaps are horse thieves,” muttered Flapp.

“Yes,—­but don’t open your mouth, Flapp,” answered the leader of the evil-doers.

“Houseboat, ahoy!” was the call.

“Hullo, the launch,” answered Baxter.

“Seen anything of any strangers within the past two hours?”

“Strangers?” repeated Baxter.  “Yes, I did.”

“Where?”

“About a mile back.  Two men in a small sailboat, beating up the river.”

“How were they dressed?”

“In raincoats.  One was a tall fellow with a heavy beard.”

“That’s our game, Curly!” was the exclamation on the second launch.  “About a mile up the river, you say?”

“About that—­or maybe a mile and a half,” replied Dan Baxter.

“Thank you.  We’ll get after them now!” And in a moment more the second launch sheered off and started up the Ohio through the mist and rain.

As soon as it was out of sight the men in the cabin of the Dora came out again.

“That was well done, kid,” cried he called Pick.  “And it was well you did it that way.  If you had said we were aboard you might have got a dose of lead in your head.”

“I always keep my word,” replied Baxter.

“You’re a game young rooster, and I reckon I can’t call you kid no more.  What’s your handle?”

“What’s yours?”

“Pick Loring.”

“You’re a horse thief, it seems.”

“I don’t deny it.”

“My name is Dan Baxter, and this is my friend, Lew Flapp.”

“Glad to know you.  This is my pard in business, Hamp Gouch.  We had to quit in a hurry, but I reckon we fell in the right hands,” and Pick Loring closed one eye suggestively and questioningly.

“You’re safe with us, Loring,—­if you’ll give us a lift.”

“I always stick to them as sticks to me.”

“If you want to stay on this houseboat for a while you can do it.”

“We’ll have to stay on this craft.  It’s about the only place we’ll be safe—­for a day or two at least.”

“You can stay a couple of weeks, if you want to—­all providing you’ll lend us your assistance.”

“It’s a go.  Now what’s your game?  You must have one, or you wouldn’t act in this style,” said Pick Loring.

CHAPTER XXV