"The stuff comes to six dollars an' eighty cents, an' we'll have to pay a dollar to get it hauled down."
Jet was averse to losing sight of the hotel door even for a moment; but it was necessary to settle the bill, and he hurried off just as the stage drove up.
He paid the amount asked for, and had turned toward the store door when he saw Bob and Sam, with guns, rods, and quite an amount of baggage, clambering on the roof of the coach.
"Hurry up an' get your team," he said, in a low tone to his new friend. "I'd like to know where that stage stops."
"I can show you any time," the boy replied, carelessly; but he obeyed the injunction, and in a few moments after the public conveyance rolled away the amateur detective was following it.
CHAPTER XXII
THE SMALL GUIDE
The driver of the vehicle which Jet had hired did not seem disposed to push his sorry-looking horse to his utmost speed, and the boy experienced no slight amount of mental anxiety through fear that the men would escape him.
Once they entered the woods without his having some idea of their course, the chase would be well-nigh hopeless.