other man to this lonely place at that hour of night, and just who were their captors, remained a puzzle to them.
"You didn't come here to spear fish?"
"Spear fish?" exclaimed Frank.
"Don't be so innocent. You know Jed and this fellow were coming down to spear fish by night-light, and it's against the law!"
The whole situation was now clear. Frank and Joe felt supremely foolish. Instead of trailing two automobile thieves, they had merely been following two farmers of the neighborhood who had been engaged in the lawless activity of spearing fish by night. This explained the mysterious conversation and their allusions to fearing capture. The other men were nothing more or less than game wardens.
"We didn't know," said Frank. "We thought perhaps they were the auto thieves."
The game wardens began to laugh.
"You were on the wrong track that time, son," said one, "I guess they're all right, Dan. Let them go."
The man who had stumbled on them in the bush released Frank reluctantly.
"They gave me a start," he said. "Hidin' there so quiet. I was sure they were with this other pair."
