"If we can have another good morning to fish—ah, we won't do a thing!" chuckled Hatch, ending with a cough.
"You ought to stay up here for the next month," declared Old Gripper. "That cough of yours——"
"Oh, it's nothing! I've had it for a year, and it's not serious in any way—only annoying."
At Saranac Lake Scott saw that the warrant for Del Norte was placed in the proper hands and the machinery of the law set in motion.
When Frank and Warren Hatch returned to the cottage of the latter they were surprised to find the place locked, the shutters closed, and an air of desertion hanging over everything.
But it was not deserted.
While Hatch was fumbling on the door they heard a stir within and a voice shouted:
"Be afther getting away from there, ye divvils, ur Oi'll blow yez full av lead! It's arrmed Oi am to th' tathe!"
It was the voice of Pat O'Toole, an Irishman who had been one of Del Norte's gang, but out of gratitude, had saved Frank's life and had been actively concerned in the rescue of Old Gripper.
"O'Toole!" cried Frank; "why the dickens have you locked yourself up this way?"