"I don't see what we are going to do," said the stout youth. "We can walk to Perry's, but it's a good mile and a half, and even after we get there he may not let us have a horse. He's a peculiar man to deal with, so my father says."
"Well, we have got to do something," said Joe, desperately. "We must get to Lakeport, hook or crook, by three o'clock!"
CHAPTER XXVI.
PREPARATIONS FOR THE GREAT GAME.
When Joe did not come home at the hour expected nobody was greatly surprised, his folks thinking that he and Fred had been detained. But as it grew later and later Mrs. Westmore began to worry.
"What can be keeping Joe?" she said to Harry. "Did he say anything to you about coming home so late?"
"No, mother, he said he would be home about supper time, or directly afterwards."
Another half hour went by, and then Mr. Rush dropped in on the Westmore family.
"Thought I'd step over to see if Fred was here," he explained. "I told him to come straight home."
"He isn't here, Mr. Rush, and neither is Joe."