“Wonder what it is, Lanky!”
“Some one in trouble over at the Parsons place.”
In a trice Frank grasped the flywheel, gave it a twist, the motor started, and they swung to the shore. Wallace went forward, hoping to catch any sound that might come across the lessening expanse of water.
Cutting off the motor, throwing the nose around so as to strike the bank easily, with Lanky ready to leap ashore with a line, Frank maneuvered the Rocket expertly.
Just as Lanky Wallace jumped ashore, as Frank held tight to the wheel, there came again the shrill scream of a woman from the Parsons house!
CHAPTER III
THE PARSONS JEWELS
Up the inclined bank went the two boys, determined now to get to the Parsons house, whence the cries came.
Dodging through the shrubbery, which whipped their faces in the inky darkness, tripping and stumbling over the gnarled roots of some of the older vines, as they missed their steps, they came to the broad expanse of lawn in front of the estate which faced the river.
Once more came that cry of a frightened woman!