Without delay the pursuit began. The occupants of the strange canoe glanced back and saw they were followed. Immediately they bent to their work, and this aroused both Brad and Dick.
“They are a heap anxious to get away, pard,” breathed the Texan. “That looks a whole lot guilty.”
“Do you know them?” asked Dick.
“Haven’t taken a square squint at them yet.”
“It’s Jack Cole in the stern,” Merriwell declared.
“That varmint!” grated Brad. “Then it’s a plenty lucky the bullet missed you at all.”
“I don’t like to think Jack Cole would deliberately do a thing like that,” said Dick.
“I judge I know the other gentleman,” suddenly declared Brad. “If that bullet had come my way I’d bet all my loose collateral he fired at me.”
Dick’s keen eyes surveyed Cole’s companion in the canoe.
“Brad,” he said, “I believe that’s Tom Fernald.”