‘Those――those awful men!’ She looked swiftly, fearfully toward the edge of the woods, and Pud looked, too, a sort of creepy feeling edging up his spine. ‘They kidnaped me from my happy home and they’re keeping me a prisoner in this dreadful place.’ She was speaking now in a thrilling whisper. ‘You can’t imagine what I’ve been through! It――it has been terrible!’ She shuddered. So did Pud and Tim, the latter having joined Pud at the bow. ‘You will rescue me, won’t you?’ ‘Well,’ muttered Pud uncomfortably, ‘I don’t know. It――it sounds sort of funny to me. Say, what’s your name, and where do you live?’ ‘My name’s Gladys Ermintrude Liscomb, and I live in Corbin. Oh, won’t you please, _please_ take me home to my poor, distracted mother? If you are seeking a reward――’ ‘Gosh, no!’ exclaimed Tim. ‘Sure, we’ll take you home! Won’t we, Pud?’ ‘Gee, I don’t know!’ Pud scowled at the deck. ‘What I want to know――’ ‘Oh, dear!’ cried the girl distressedly. ‘We’re wasting time! They’ll be back almost any moment now. They went off with their guns an hour ago. They said they were going hunting, but’――again she shuddered――‘I don’t know what awful deed they are up to!’ ‘That’s right,’ urged Tim, tugging Pud’s arm. ‘We’d better get a move on.’ ‘What I want to know,’ repeated Pud doggedly, ‘is what they wanted to kidnap you for.’ He viewed Gladys Ermintrude in cold apprisal. ‘You don’t look to me like the sort of girls that get kidnaped. I guess your folks ain’t got much money, have they?’ ‘They have, too!’ declared the girl resentfully. ‘They’re fabulously wealthy, you horrid thing! Why, I wouldn’t be one bit surprised if mother had offered a thousand dollars reward for me!’ ‘Huh, that isn’t much,’ said Pud. ‘Or maybe ten thousand,’ added Gladys Ermintrude hastily. ‘Gosh!’ murmured Tim. Even Pud was impressed now, but he was still cautious. ‘Well, maybe it’s all right,’ he muttered, ‘but Corbin’s a good eight miles from here, I guess, and we’ve got to get our tent pitched. Maybe in the morning we could attend to it for you.’ The girl’s wail of despair was really heart-rending. ‘Too late!’ she cried. ‘To-morrow I shall be far away!’ ‘Oh, say, Pud,’ begged Tim, ‘have a heart, can’t you? Gosh, suppose she was your sister or something! Gosh, I guess you wouldn’t like it if she was! I guess――’ ‘I haven’t got any sister,’ replied Pud stubbornly. ‘Anyhow, what I say is――’ ‘Yonder’s them,’ interrupted Harmon in pleased excitement. They all looked. Several hundred yards distant two men, carrying shot-guns, had emerged into the clearing. They were undeniably rough-looking persons, and, rescue or no rescue, Pud instantly decided, this was no place to spend the night! ‘Quick!’ said Gladys Ermintrude tensely. ‘Start your engine! It won’t take me a second to get my bag!’