“From Butterfly Island,” answered Jack. Then he lowered his voice and added: “Ritter, you and your cronies have got yourselves in a nice mess. You stole Mr. Fales’s boat, and he says if you don’t return it to him by to-morrow morning he’ll have you all locked up!” CHAPTER XXIII A WILD GOOSE CHASE The announcement that Jack made filled the Ritter crowd with alarm, and they showed it. “Have us arrested?” cried the bully, and he grew somewhat pale. “That is just what he said,” broke in Pepper. “Fun is fun, but to steal a launch is another story.” “We didn’t steal the boat,” came from Coulter. “We—er—What do you know about it anyway?” he demanded suddenly. “We know all we wish to know,” said Andy. “You took Mr. Fales’s boat and did not return it. You can well imagine how angry he is. He looked all around Butterfly Island for it, but with no success.” “We didn’t leave it at Butterfly Island,” said Paxton. We left it—” He stopped short and looked at his cronies questioningly. “How did you get away from the island?” asked Ritter. “A party came along in another launch, the _Spray_,” said Jack, and did not attempt to explain further. “We—er—we hid the _Emma_ on the shore of another island,” said Coulter. “We didn’t hurt the boat in the least.” “Well, you better return her before morning, or Mr. Fales may get out warrants for your whole crowd,” said Andy. “After we found the hornets’ nest he wanted to know who you were.” “Humph! I suppose you told him too,” sneered Ritter. “Why not? You put us in a hole. But you’d better get the boat. Don’t you know that there are some thieves on this lake? They wouldn’t hesitate to take that launch if they found it, and paint it over and change the name—and then you’d never find the craft.” “Yes, you’ll get into serious trouble if you don’t return that boat by morning,” said the young major, and then he motioned to his chums and all walked away. Looking back they saw the Ritter crowd get together and commence an earnest conversation. “I’ll wager they go out after the launch,” said Andy, with a broad grin. “Won’t they be surprised when they find the boat missing from Hull Island!” came from The Imp. “They’ll think she drifted away or was stolen!” “If they go out they may get wet,” said Jack. “It certainly looks like rain.” The chums joined the other cadets, and pretended to pay no further attention to the Ritter faction. But on the sly Dale watched them and after taps saw Ritter, Coulter, Paxton and Sabine steal away in the direction of the lake. They took one of the rowboats with two pairs of oars and rowed away in the darkness.