THE RINGMASTER
"Just the same, that old fellow didn't even know whether there was somebody aboard the canalboat with Quigg and his daughter or not," Neale O'Neil said, as they turned back into the Durginville road.
"Oh!" cried Cecile. "Are you going on?"
"We are—just," said her brother. "Until we solve the mystery of the Nancy Hanks."
"Do you suppose that canal boatman is bad enough to have shut the children up on his boat and will keep them for ransom?" demanded Agnes, filled with a new fear.
"He's not a brigand I should hope," Cecile Shepard cried.
"Can't tell what he is till we see him," Neale grumbled. "If this old canalboat hasn't been wrecked or sunk, we'll find it and interview Cap'n Quigg before we go back."
"Meanwhile," Ruth said, with more than a little doubt, "the children may be wandering in quite an opposite direction."
"Why, of course, our guess may be wrong, Ruth," Luke said thoughtfully, turning around the better to speak with the oldest Corner House girl. "However, we are traveling so fast that it will not delay us much."
"Pshaw, no!" exclaimed Neale. "We'll be in Durginville in a few minutes."