"They must be the four we are after," said Dick. "I wish they would turn into shore, at some town. Then we'd have an easier time of it, rounding them up."
"I have an idea!" cried Sam. "Why not follow them until they do land somewhere and go to sleep? We'll have a better chance to capture all of them than in a fight out here. Here, if we get into a row, somebody may fall overboard and be drowned."
"Yes, let us follow them until they stop somewhere," came from Songbird, who had no desire to fight out there on the bosom of the swiftly-flowing Mississippi.
This decided on, they did not attempt to catch up to the launch, but, getting near enough to keep the craft in plain view, held back just a trifle.
"Do you suppose they see us?" asked Fred.
"They may see the houseboat, but they don't know what craft it is, or who is on board," answered Dick.
Presently the launch stopped running and merely drifted with the current. Those in the houseboat saw the gas lamp turned toward the shore.
"I think they are making preparations to land," said Harold Bird.
A moment later the acetylene lamp was turned back and the sharp rays fell full upon the Dora and those on the forward deck.
"Hi! There is the houseboat!" cried Dan Baxter, who was following the rays of light with his eyes.