"Ain't been nobody aboard our boat but our ownselfs and Beauty," declared Louise.
"And you did not see two children—"
"Holt on!" cried the girl. "I guess I seen 'em when we was waitin' to get the mules shod. They went by."
"Which way were they going?"
"Toward the canal—they was. And our boat was in sight. But I didn't see 'em after."
"Oh, my dear!" cried Ruth, from the tonneau, "they could not possibly be shut up anywhere on your boat?"
"Why, they wasn't in the cabin, of course—nor the mules' stable," drawled the captain. "Warn't nowhere else."
The automobile roared down toward the burning canalboat. The crowd from the circus field lined up along the other bank; but the towpath was deserted where the Nancy Hanks lay. The flames were rapidly destroying the boat amidships.