Quickly informing the boys of the plot against their companion, he told them that no time must be lost in finding Chap and keeping him with them. No one had observed which way he had gone, but from his habits and his love of the water, it was probable that he had strolled either up or down the shore of the lake. “You run along that way,” said Adam, “and mind you keep together, for if them chaps get hold of one of you alone, they may make it bad for him. I’ll go down-shore. I ain’t afraid of ’em.” And with this, the party separated. On their different ways through the town they met several persons, but nobody had seen Chap. Adam soon found himself in the woods, where there were open spaces among the trees near the water, which allowed him to hurry along quite rapidly and to see to a considerable distance. He was certain he was on the right track, for in the sand near the water he saw the print of shoes, with a peculiar crack across the sole of one of them, which he had often noticed when Chap was stretched at full length on board The Rolling Stone. [Illustration: “Now we’ll give it to him.”] Greatly encouraged by this, he followed the track, and just as he vaulted over the trunk of a fallen palmetto, he caught sight of Chap some distance head. He was crouched down, examining something at the water’s edge. Adam was just about to call to him, when he was suddenly enveloped in darkness. Something had fallen over his head, which blinded and almost choked him. Then, through the coarse bag which had been thrown over him, he heard the words, spoken close to his ear,-- “Now we’ll give it to him.” And almost at the same moment a tremendous blow from a club fell upon his back and shoulder. The two boat-thieves had been following Chap, intending to throw the bag over his head, and then punish him to their hearts’ content; but, perceiving the approach of Adam, they had hidden themselves behind the roots of a fallen tree, and when the sailor had jumped over the trunk and stood close to them, with his back toward them, they determined to give him the first taste of their revenge. The instant that Adam felt the blow, he turned upon the fellow who held the bag over his head, and twisted him around in the direction from which the blow had come. But the man with the club skipped around and dealt the sailor another blow. Thereupon, Adam, feeling that he was at a great disadvantage in being blinded, and having an assailant free to whang him with a club, instantly clutched the man he held with a firmer grip, and tripped him up, both falling heavily to the ground. Adam was a good wrestler, and could easily have thrown himself on his antagonist had he so chosen, but, instead of doing this, he rolled over so that the man he held in his strong arms was above him. In this way it was not easy to strike him without hitting the other fellow.