"Right where dem men told me to. Dey met me around de corner, got in de cab and rode off wid it." "And what did you do?" asked the manager of the messenger. "Oh, dey gave me carfare, an' a tip, and I come back here." "But where did they go?" asked Russ. "Off in de taxi. I didn't notice." Russ looked hopeless, but Ruth exclaimed: "We've got to go back to the taxi office and see the chauffeur of that car. He's the only one who can tell us where the men are." "Good!" cried Russ. "We'll do it." Back again they went, to find that the car had just come in, after a long trip. The chauffeur readily gave the address to which he had driven the two men, after the messenger boy had gotten out. It was in an obscure section of Jersey City. "And there's where I'm going!" cried Russ. "Wolley and Brisket are probably going to try to work their scheme from there. But maybe I can stop them." "I--I think we had better go home, Alice dear," said Ruth gently, at this point. "Yes," sighed the other, "though I'd love to be there at the finish!" "Alice!" gasped her sister. "Well, I would," she said, defiantly. "Maybe it wouldn't be best," suggested Russ. "I'll get a friend of mine, though. Now shall I take you home?" "No, indeed!" cried Ruth. "That will delay you. You go right on after them. Alice and I can get home all right. It isn't late." "It will give me pleasure if the young ladies will allow me to send them home in one of our cabs," put in the manager. "I am sorry that any of our men was used in a criminal manner." "It wasn't your fault," spoke Russ. "But I guess the girls will be glad to be sent home. I'll keep on. I haven't any time to lose." And while he sped off in his taxi, in pursuit of the men who were trying to cheat him out of his patent, Ruth and Alice took their places in another cab, and were driven back to the Fenmore Apartment. CHAPTER XXV THE CAPTURE Mr. DeVere was rather worried when he reached home, and found his daughters' note. He puzzled over what could have taken them out with Russ, and went across the hall to inquire. By this time Mrs. Dalwood had returned, and found the note her son had left. There was not much information in it--Russ had not had time for that--and the mystery seemed all the deeper. "I wonder what I had better do?" asked Mr. DeVere of Mrs. Dalwood. "Just don't do anything--and don't worry," she advised. "I know your daughters are able to take care of themselves--especially Miss Alice." "Yes, she seems very capable--of late," he agreed, remembering how she had worked to get him into the moving picture business. "And with Russ no harm will come to them," went on Mrs. Dalwood. "He's a good boy." "Indeed he is! But I wish I knew what it was all about." There was the honk of an auto horn in the street below, and as they looked out, they saw, in the gleam of a street lamp, Ruth and Alice alighting. "There they are now!" exclaimed Mr. DeVere, with a note of relief in his voice.