"I tell you, we can't get the vessel out of this place," said Mack warmly, when Dory came near enough to hear what he said. "The wind is blowing very fresh right on the shore, and she is not more than fifty feet from the beach." "If you hoist the sails, there is wind enough to make her go, isn't there?" demanded one of the new-comers. "There is wind enough to make her go ashore all in a heap," replied Mack smartly. "You don't know the first thing about handling a vessel, Fred Ripples!" Fred Ripples! That was the name of the signer of the letter. He was one of the remaining members of the Nautifelers Club, who were to join the rest of the party at Ticonderoga or Westport. Dory looked at Mr. Jepson, and Mr. Jepson looked at him. How in the world had the new members come to Camp-Meeting Point? The members of the club on the beach were too busy with the argument to notice the approach of Dory and the machinist. Doubtless Mack and Chuck had told the new-comers of the "break" the night before, and of the disappearance of the leader of the enterprise. But none of them had any reason to suspect that Angy had been captured. "Is that you, Dory?" demanded Mack, as he happened to turn his head far enough to see him. "What have you done with Angy?" "I haven't done any thing with him," replied Dory, when the gaze of the whole party was fixed upon him. It was a hard question under the circumstances, and Dory was not at all inclined to answer it. "You were in the boat with him when Chuck let go of the painter, and came off this way." "We landed in a creek, and went on shore. We sat on a log some time, while he rested himself: then he went off, and I have not seen him since," replied Dory, telling the literal truth. "But where is he now?" demanded Mack, beginning to be furious. "I don't know." But it was deception all the same, though it was the literal truth. Mack and Chuck asked him a great many questions, but they could not get any thing out of him. Mr. Jepson was a man he met over in the woods. "Then, Angy must be in the woods now," said Mack, as the conclusion of the whole matter. "We must find him, and we may as well begin at once." "If you go far enough, you will be sure to find him," added Dory; but his statement was not very definite, and the robbers were not likely to go as far as the lock-up in Genverres to look for him. "Where did Angy leave the tender when he landed?" asked Mack, who was far from satisfied with the result of the examination. "In a creek, which you will find near the bight of the bay." "How came the boat here, if he left it in a creek?" "Of course, Sang and Wick must have come ashore after we did, and they found the boat," Chuck was kind enough to interpose before Dory could answer the question, or attempt to evade it. "But how could they get ashore when they had no boat, and no raft even?" demanded Mack, who spoke in the imperative mood.