"When did he leave here?"
"Is he all right?"
"I'm ready to go after him right now."
Such were the words that came from the Rover boys after Jack Wumble had announced that he had located their missing brother.
"We ain't got no time to spare," cried the old miner. "Let us pay our bill here an' git out, an' I'll tell ye all I know while we are on the way."
The lads lost no time in packing up as directed, and Dick settled at the hotel desk. Jack Wumble led the way down to the docks and ordered them into a small river boat.
"This here ain't no regular boat," he explained. "But I've hired passage on her, so it's all right. We'll save fourteen hours by not waitin' fer the regular boat."
"But where are we going, Jack?" questioned Dick.
"To a jumpin'-off place called Lindy Falls. That is whar the party Tom was with was goin' to start from."
Soon the boat, a large craft of its kind, was on the way up the river. As they sped along, the boys and the old miner drew into a corner of the cabin and Jack Wumble told his story.