"Listen!" cried Sam. "Somebody is shouting, and there is a light."
"It is Jack Ness," said Tom.
The boys set up an answering shout, and soon a boat came up to the shore. It contained the hired man and the two Ditwolds. They had a lantern with them and also an old-fashioned single-barrel shotgun.
The situation was quickly explained, and then the party of six began a systematic search of the woods and the various roads in the vicinity of Henderson's mill. This search lasted until morning, but nothing came of it.
"We may as well give up," said Dick, at last. "They have gotten away and that is all there is to it."
The boys were completely tired out when they got home. Their uncle and aunt were much worried over their prolonged absence and overjoyed to see them return unharmed.
"I was so afraid one of you might get shot or something," said Mrs. Rover. "Some of those chickens thieves are desperate characters."
"Those men were more than chicken thieves," I answered Dick. And he told his uncle and aunt of the conversation overheard at the old mill.
"It is a great pity that they got away," said Randolph Rover.
