To say that they were cordially received by Mr. Feeney would be only the truth. At sight of the bareheaded man in gray, his visored cap somewhere among the things in the car, Pat eyed him perplexedly, saying: "Holy Moses! Little did I think to see the likes of you back again!" The wounded man opened his eyes slowly and blinked the lids when he saw they were carrying him to the house from the car. "Dippy done it--yes--Dippy--he done it." Then he fainted away again. After the wounded man was placed on a cot in a small shed room attached to Feeney's not very commodious house, Pat took Phil and Worth aside, while Dave and Paul remained with the stranger. It was felt intuitively that the man should be closely watched. Why none of them knew exactly, except that their methods with Billy and the taking of the car indicated that something was wrong, somewhere. What it might be, of course none of them as yet had any distinct idea. Feeney scratched his head meditatively, as he said to Phil: "Them two fellers come here about night, afore you boys appeared. They wanted to stay all night and after breakfast they had my wife put up some grub; quite a lot of it. But when you came in, all at once they took a notion to leave, sudden-like. After they was gone my woman found the stuff we'd packed up, which they seemed to have forgotten. That's all we seen of 'em until you came in here with that one in the fix he's in now." "It all does look mysterious," remarked Phil. "From a hasty look we took in the old tavern we saw what looked like a forge and some tools. I thought I glimpsed some dies but I might have been mistaken." "Wait a minute," broke in Pat, going to the door of the kitchen. "Ma," he called out, "any sign of Nan and Dan yet?" A broad-bosomed, red-faced woman appeared for a minute at the open doorway, as she replied: "No, Pat, I ain't seen nothin'. I went to the bend of the road, too. It's time they was here onless something's bothered them." Coming back to the two boys, Feeney explained: "Last night, ruther late, Bill Spivee, our nearest neighbor to the west, came over. He's got a telephone and he says that the Midlandville op'rator asked him if any strangers had been round lately. Bill told 'em he hadn't seen any, but that two fellers had stopped here, for I'd told him that when we met up after puttin' up some marsh hay yon way," jerking a thumb southward. "We often puts up wild grass together. "Well, later they 'phones ag'in. Asks Bill to see me right away and find out all he could 'bout them strangers. If it was what they thought, them fellers was wanted right away." Feeney pointed towards the shed-room, as he continued: "We mustn't let go of that chap, whatever happens, until we knows more."