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THE ABDUCTION OF "BONES"
73

"Pat him, why don't you, old fellow; he likes the taste of you all right!"

But to none of these suggestions did Buster pay the least heed. He was working with the end of the rope all the time he talked so soothingly to the brute. Frank suspected what might happen if this suddenly came free when the dog was making one of his frantic plunges. Consequently, he made sure to be ready to seize hold, so as to assist the fat boy.

It was just as he thought. Only for the quick clutch he made, the dog must have sped away like the wind, and they would have been as badly off as before. But with the weight of the two boys on the rope, even the powerful Kaiser was not able to go faster than the crowd could follow.

"Ralph, keep close beside me!" called out Frank, who did not want a second disaster to overtake them while trying to remedy the first.

It was really a curious sight to see that crowd of boys rushing over the territory adjoining Dyckman's Hall, following the pair who pooled their strength in order to restrain the wildly eager dog.

Frank quickly took note of a certain fact.

"We're heading for the water, fellows!" he exclaimed, as well as he was able, while being tugged along by the erratic rushes of Kaiser.

Nearly everyone knew what he meant. It was that the abductors of Bones meant to duck him in