"And get caught by Pop Lundy?" queried Giant.
"I don't care," put in Shep. "If I can help a lady I am going to do it."
He hurried off in the direction Simon Lundy had taken and one after another his chums followed. To get to the back door of the farmhouse they had to pass around a chicken house and a pig sty, and as they were doing this they saw a burly negro leap a rail fence not far away.
"What is it, Jane?" they heard the farmer cry, as he dashed into the house.
There was no reply, and coming to the door, the four boys saw that the farmer's wife lay back in a kitchen chair in a dead faint.
"Sumbuddy hez killed her, I guess!" moaned Simon Lundy. "Oh, where is the villain?"
"She isn't dead, only fainted," answered Shep, who had assisted his father on more than one occasion. "Got some smelling salts in the house?"
"I dunno. Ye kin look in the closets."
Shep and the others did so, and soon the son of the physician found something that was beneficial. Yet it was several minutes before the lady of the farm came to her senses and opened her eyes.
"Where is he?" she murmured. "Take him away! Take him away!"