Rowing at a good rate of speed, it did not take the boys long to reach the town. As they moved past one dock after another they looked for Bob Bangs, but the big youth was nowhere in sight.
"I reckon he was afraid of being followed," said Jack.
"There is his boat," answered Randy, and pointed to the craft, which was tied up near an old boathouse and not at the regular Bangs dock.
While the two boys rested on their oars an old man who was lame, and who rented out boats for a living, came from the old boathouse. "Hullo, Isaac!" called out Jack. "Have you seen Bob Bangs around here?"
"Why, yes; he just went ashore," answered Isaac Martin.
"Did he have any fish?"
"Yes, a nice string—some pretty big ones, too."
"How many?"
"Seven or eight."
"Which way did he go?"