After dinner Helen went off, saying that she and Minnie had agreed to take the other boat belonging to Frank and row down the river; for all Columbia was "water mad," as Frank said, on this day of the regatta.
It was about two o'clock when Frank's father requested him to mount his wheel and carry a letter to Squire Prentice, who lived a couple of miles out on the road leading over to Chester, away from the river.
A little spin like that was next door to nothing, when mounted on a good wheel. Besides, as he laughingly declared, it would "give him a chance to get some of the kinks out of his cramped legs." Frank arranged in his mind that after he returned he would hunt Lanky up, or failing to locate him, get Paul Bird to go down the river with him after the girls, who might find the current stronger than they imagined, and balk at the row home.
Flying along the road he reached the country seat of Squire Prentice, who conducted the law business of Mr. Allen, owner of the big department store in Columbia.
Without wasting time Frank started back to town. The day was hot, as nearly all Fourth of July holidays are, and he enjoyed the breeze created by his own rapid passage.
He had covered possibly a quarter of the return journey when he came to where the road ran through Jones' woods. A spring among the trees allowed the water to trickle across the road, making it slippery at this place.
Frank slowed down considerably, for he had come near taking a header at this point when going, and was cautious. He thought he saw something frisk around the base of a big oak, and was wondering if it could have been a gray squirrel.
Without the least warning a stout stick was suddenly thrust out from a covert of bushes and Frank felt a shove that of course threw him off his balance. He struggled to maintain his seat, but the wheel toppled over, and he was thrown to the ground just where the road seemed so slippery.
Before he could struggle to his feet some heavy object landed on him, and he found himself flattened out under the weight of an unknown man!