"Hullo!" shouted Mr. Rush, as he came up in his buggy. "Where in the world have you two boys been?"
"It's a long story, father," answered his son. "Just now we'd like to get back to Lakeport as quickly as possible. Will you take us, and take the wheels, too?"
"Certainly. It will be quite a load, but I reckon Dolly can manage it."
With the aid of a hitching strap, the bicycles were fastened to the back of the buggy, and then the boys hopped in beside Mr. Rush. The mare was turned around and touched up with the whip, and off they sped for home.
"This beats bicycling," said Joe. "It will rest us up for that game."
Mr. Rush wanted to know the particulars of the kidnapping and the boys told him all they knew.
"Those rascals should really be locked up for this," said the gentleman. "But the thing is to prove their identity. You can't say that you saw any of them."
"That's true, father," answered Fred.
"I suppose Si Voup looks at it as a good joke, but I can't see it in that light," went on Mr. Rush.
"Marcy must have done it just to make trouble for us," came from Joe. "He is awfully sore over the way he was treated last winter."