"Take to the woods, Benson! You can lose him there!"
"I'll get him, anywhere on earth!" shouted Jacob Farnum, full of purpose and vim.
The boatbuilder was long-legged and slim. He had been a runner at college, and now his old knack was coming back to him.
Undoubtedly the most humiliated man present was George Melville. Though that capitalist had not been averse to stooping to the purchase of secrets from another man's trusted employe, he felt badly indeed to have Farnum detect his son.
So George Melville now came out quickly from cover.
"Don," he demanded, "how could Farnum ever have gotten wind of this?"
"Talk it over with Mr. Emerson," panted Don Melville. "I'm off after
Benson and Farnum."
With that Don put his own sprinting abilities to the test, dashing into the woods at the point where he had seen the others vanish.
Though it flashed through George Melville's head that Broughton Emerson must have given information to the rival boatbuilder, the elder Melville did not now stop to question Mr. Emerson.
Instead, the father, who was rather heavy, started off puffily in the wake of his son.