"Who's got Bob? What do you mean?" asked Mr. Golden from upstairs, where he was getting ready for bed.
"I don't know who's got him," cried excited Jack, "but there's been some kind of a fight at the spring, and he's gone."
"It's impossible," declared Mr. Golden, who by this time had come down into the living room, where the family had gathered. "There's no one round here who would kidnap him."
"How about those men who held us up on the lake the other night?" asked May.
"By gracious, that's so," said Mr. Golden. "Why didn't I think of them before? Give me the phone, quick."
As quickly as possible he called up the police of all the towns nearby, and told them what had happened. They all promised to be on the watch and to do all they could to catch the kidnappers.
"That ought to get them," he declared, as he hung up the receiver. "Bob's been gone only about an hour, and they can't have taken him very far yet."
"Oh dear, Oh dear! Do you suppose they will harm him?" sobbed Mrs. Golden.
"No, my dear," assured her husband, trying to calm her, "I don't think they will dare to hurt him. 'If it is those two men who have him they will try to make him disclose the secret of the cell, for that's undoubtedly what they are after."
No one in the house thought of going to bed, but sat around eagerly listening for the ring of the phone. Suddenly, at eleven-fifteen, it rang and Mr. Golden eagerly grabbed up the receiver.