"Where did they get the money?" asked Fred, his brow darkening.
"I don't know," was Bert's rejoinder. "But they must be able to raise money all right, for Driggs has the canoe down at his yard, and he has promised it to them in a few days."
This news came like a slap in the face to the lawyer's son. He remained with Bert for another hour, but all the time Fred brooded over the fact that Dick & Co. were to have their canoe after all.
"At that, I don't know that they will have their canoe," Fred remarked darkly to himself as he started homeward.
Shortly after midnight Fred Ripley sneaked away from his home, turning his face in the direction of Hiram Driggs' boatyard.
CHAPTER IV
HIRAM PRIES A SECRET LOOSE
When he left home Fred Ripley had no clearly defined idea as to what he meant to do.
However, he had in one pocket a keen-bladed pocket knife. Well wrapped in paper a short but sharp-edged chisel rested in one of the side pockets of his coat.
At the outset his only purpose was to do irreparable mischief to the war canoe. The means of accomplishing that purpose he must decide upon when he reached the boatyard.