"Wait a moment." The derk turned to Dick. "There's your party now. I'll switch you into the booth yonder."
Trembling with anticipation, Dick hurried to the booth, shut the door and took up the telephone receiver. The wire was buzzing, but presently he made out his father's voice.
"Is that you, Dick?"
"Yes, Dad. Where are you?"
"At the hotel in Cedarville. I just got here a few minutes ago from a run across the lake."
"Across the lake? What for? Did you go after the fortune?"
"No, I went after Mrs. Stanhope."
"Then she is—is gone?" faltered Dick. He could scarcely speak the words.
"Yes. But how did you guess it?" And Anderson Rover's tones showed his surprise.
"Tell me first where she went, and how?" demanded Dick, impatiently.
"We don't know how she went, or just when. It is most mysterious all the way through. Dora is nearly frantic, for she did not know her mother was going. We followed her up and learned that she had crossed the lake in company with some man who wore a heavy, black beard and dark goggles."
"It must have been Josiah Crabtree," cried
