“Alone?”
“No, with some Canadians and—er—Mrs. Stanhope.”
“Oh, I see! the same old game,” growled the bully. “Anybody else on the boat?”
“No.”
“If that’s the case we are in luck,” came from Arnold Baxter. He gazed at Crabtree sharply. “Do you know where this lad came from?”
“What do you mean?”
“He and his brother Tom escaped from us. We brought them here,”
“What! I thought they had followed me and Mrs. Stanhope.”
“Hardly.” Arnold Baxter proceeded to bind Sam’s arms behind him. “Dan, take him to yonder tree and tie him fast.” Then he walked away to talk to Josiah Crabtree.
The conversation which followed lasted for quarter of an hour. What was said Sam could not make out. The boy wanted to get away, but was helpless, and now Dan Baxter took away the pistol with which he had provided himself. A little later the Baxters and Crabtree moved toward the wreck, leaving him bound to the tree, alone.
CHAPTER XXVII
HOW TOM WAS CAPTURED
Tom was pacing the deck of the wreck in thoughtful mood when, on looking up, he saw Josiah Crabtree coming back alone.
“Where is Sam?” he called out.
“Samuel wishes you to join him at the headland,” replied Crabtree. “He thinks a boat is coming around the other side of the island.”
“Did you see it?”
“No, my eyesight is failing me and I had no spectacles along.”
“Well, you can go back with me,” said Tom, to make sure that the former teacher should not bother Mrs. Stanhope during his absence from the Wellington.
“I calculated to go back,” responded Crabtree.
Telling Mrs. Stanhope that he would soon return, Tom left the wreck and followed Josiah Crabtree around the marsh land and over the cocks.
So long as Crabtree was in front poor Tom did not anticipate any treachery, consequently he was taken completely by surprise when the Baxters fell upon him from behind and bore him to the ground.
“Don’t!” he cried, and tried to rise. But Dan Baxter struck him a heavy blow with a club, and then pointed the pistol at his head, and he had to submit.
When he was a prisoner Josiah Crabtree came back, his face beaming sarcastically. “The tables are turned once more, Thomas,” he said. “We are masters of the situation. How do you like the prospect?”
“What have you done with Sam?”
“We have taken care of him,” answered Arnold Baxter. “And we’ll take good care of you after this, too.”
Tom said no more, but his heart sank like a lump of lead in his breast. The talk of a ship being in sight must be a hoax, unless Crabtree referred to the Peacock.
The Baxters had a small bit of rope remaining, and with this they tied Tom’s hands behind him. Then he was made to march to where Sam was a prisoner.
“What, Tom! you too?” cried the youngest Rover. And then he felt worse than ever, for he had hoped that his brother might come to his rescue.
Both boys were tied to the trees, but at some distance apart. Then, without delay, the Baxters and Josiah Crabtree hurried off toward the Wellington. The Baxters had heard that the boat was not much damaged, and thought that it might be possible to patch her up sufficiently to reach the mainland, and to do this ere Dick Rover and his party discovered them. For the Peacock and Langless Arnold Baxter now cared but little.
“She has left the bay,” he said to Dan, “and more than likely has abandoned us.”
The Canadians were surprised to see Josiah Crabtree returning with two strangers, and Mrs. Stanhope uttered a shriek when confronted by the Baxters.
“I must be dreaming,” she murmured, when she had recovered sufficiently to speak. “How came you here?”
“We are not answering questions just now, madam,” said Arnold Baxter. “We wish to patch up this boat if we can, and at once,” and he called the Canadians to him.
As can be imagined, the sailors were dumfounded, especially when told that the Rover boys would not be back, at least for the present. They shook their heads.
“Ze ship cannot be patched up,” said Peglace. “Ze whole bottom ees ready to fall out.”
Arnold Baxter would not believe him, and armed with lanterns he and Dan went below to make an examination.
“What does this mean?” demanded Mrs. Stanhope of Crabtree, when they were left alone. “What have you done with the Rover boys?”
“Do not worry about them, my dear,” said the former teacher soothingly. “All will come right in the end.”
Then he began to look at her steadily, in an endeavor to bring her once more under his hypnotic influence. But, without waiting, she ran off and refused to confront him again.
“Follow me and I will leap into the lake,” she cried, and fearful she would commit suicide, he let her alone.
The examination below decks lasted nearly an hour, and was far from satisfactory to Arnold Baxter. He felt that the Wellington might be patched up, but the work would take at least several days, and there was no telling what would happen in the meantime.
“Dick Rover and his party are sure to find us Before that time,” said Dan.
“I am afraid so, Dan. But I know of nothing better to do than to remain here.”
“We might find the Peacock and make a new deal with Captain Langless.”
“Langless is a weak-hearted fool, and I’ll never trust him again. We would have done much better had we hired a small boat which we could ran alone.”
“But what shall we do, dad?”
“I think we had best go into hiding in the interior of the island. We can take a store of provisions along from this boat.”
“Shall we take the Rovers with us?”
“We may as well. We can’t let them starve, and by holding them prisoners we may be able to make terms with Dick Rover and his friends.”
“That’s an idea. I reckon Dick will do a lot rather than see Tom and Sam suffer.”
“To be sure.”
“Where do you suppose Dick Rover and his friends are now?”
“Somewhere around the island, although I have seen nothing of their boat.”
By noon the Baxters had completed their plans and left the boat, carrying with them a load of provisions wrapped up in a sheet of canvas. They invited Josiah Crabtree to go with them, but that individual declined.
“I cannot take Mrs. Stanhope along,” he said, “and I will not desert the lady.”
“As you please,” replied Arnold Baxter.
“What are you going to do with Tom and Sam Rover?”
“Take them with us. If you see anything of Dick Rover, don’t say anything about us.”
“I don’t wish to see Dick Rover,” answered Josiah Crabtree nervously.
“If the Dick Rover party leaves the island, we’ll come back,” put in Dan. “In the meantime, if I was you, I’d lay low.”
Soon the Baxters were out of sight, and then Josiah Crabtree turned to have another talk with Mrs. Stanhope, in the meantime setting the Canadians on guard, to watch for and hail any passing sail which might appear.
In his wandering on the island Arnold Baxter had stumbled across a convenient cave near the headland where he had encountered Sam Rover, and thither father and son now made their way.
The cave gained they put down their bundles, which included a quantity of rope, and then started for the headland to bring in Tom and Sam.
The headland gained, a surprise awaited them. Both boys had disappeared.
CHAPTER XXVIII
THE BAXTERS TALK IT OVER,
“Tom, we are in a fix.”
“So it would seem, Sam. Who ever dreamed of running across the Baxters in this fashion?”
“We are in the hands of a
trio of rascals now, for Crabtree is as bad as the others.”
“Perhaps, but he hasn’t the nerve that Arnold Baxter has. What shall we do?”
“Try to get free.”
“I can’t budge an inch. Dan Baxter took especial delight in tying me up.”
“I can move one hand and if—It is free! Hurrah!”
“Can you get the other hand free?”
“I can try. The rope—that’s free, too. Now for my legs.”
Sam Rover worked rapidly, and was soon as free as ever. Then he ran over to where Tom was tied up and liberated his brother.
“Now, what shall we do?”
“I move we go after the people on that steam tug and get them to help us rescue Mrs. Stanhope.”
“That’s a good idea, and the quicker we go the better.”
Sam remembered very well in what direction he had seen the tug, and now set a straight course across the island to the cove.
But the trail led over a hill and through a dense thicket, and long before the journey was half finished both lads were well-nigh exhausted.
“We ought to have followed the shore around—we would have got there quicker,” panted Tom, as he fairly cut his way through the dense brush-wood.
“I hope there are no wild animals here.”
“I doubt if there is anything very large on the island. If so, we would have seen it before this.”
So speaking, they pushed on once more. The woods passed, they came to a swamp filled with long grass. They hurried around this, and then into the forest skirting the lake shore.
At last the cove came into sight. Alas! the steam tug was nowhere to be seen.
“She has gone!” groaned Sam. “Oh, what luck!
“I can’t see a sign of her anywhere?” returned Tom. “She must have steamed away right after you came down the tree.”
“More than likely.”
Much disappointed and utterly worn out, they cast themselves down in the shade to rest. As they rested they listened intently, but only the breeze through the trees and the soft lap-lap of the waves striking the rocks reached their ears.
“I never thought a spot on our lakes could be so lonely,” said Sam at length. “Why, it’s as if we were in the middle of the Pacific!”
“I trust no harm befalls Mrs. Stanhope, Sam. Perhaps it is our duty to go back to her, in spite of the danger.”
“I was thinking of that, too. But we are only two boys against two men and a boy, and they are armed.”
“I think the Canadians will prove our friends in a mix-up. They hate Crabtree, for they half fancy he bewitched their boat.”
“We might go back on the sly and do some spying.”
“That is what I mean.”
But they were too tired to go back at once, and spent a good hour near the beach. Close at hand was a tiny spring, and here they procured a drink of water and took a wash-up, after which they felt somewhat better.
They were about to start on the return when Tom suddenly plucked his brother by the sleeve.
“Somebody is coming,” he whispered. “Let us hide.”
They had scarcely time to get behind some brushwood when the Baxters came into view, moving very slowly and gazing sharply around them.
“I don’t see a thing, dad,” came from Dan Baxter in disgusted tones. “I don’t believe they came this way.”
“They certainly didn’t go back to that old boat,” replied Arnold Baxter. “Let us take a walk along the beach.”
“I am tired to death. Let us rest first.”
So speaking, Dan Baxter threw himself on a grassy bank overlooking the lake, and Arnold Baxter followed.
Both were out of sorts and did a large amount of grumbling. The father lit a short briar-root pipe, while the son puffed away at a cigarette.
“I’d give a hundred dollars if a boat would come along and take us to the mainland,” observed the father. “I am sick and tired of this game all through.”
“So am I sick of it, dad. We made a mistake by ever coming East, it seems to me.”
“If I could get to the mainland I might make money out of it even so, Dan. Anderson Rover may have sent that ten thousand dollars to Bay City, after all. He thinks an awful lot of his sons, and won’t want a hair of their head harmed.”
“So the money was to go to Bay City. You didn’t tell me that before.”
“I wanted to keep the matter secret.”
“Who will receive it there?”
“A man I can trust.”
“Oh, pshaw! you needn’t be so close-mouthed about it,” growled the son, lighting a fresh cigarette.
“Well, the man’s name is Cowdrick—Hiram Cowdrick. He comes from Colorado, and used to know the Roebuck crowd.”
“I suppose old Rover was to send the money in secret?”
“Certainly. I wrote him a long letter, telling him that if there was the least effort made to follow up the money on his part the lives of his sons should pay the forfeit.”
“That’s the way to put it, dad. I shouldn’t wonder if old Rover sent the money on.”
“I’d soon find out, if I could get to shore. If I had the money the boys could rot here, for all I care.”
“Thank you for nothing,” muttered Tom, under his breath. “Just you wait till I have a chance to square accounts, that’s all!”
“Hush!” whispered Sam. “They must not discover us.” And then Tom became silent again.
“Josiah Crabtree is in a fix, too,” went on Dan, with something of a laugh. “He don’t seem to know what to do.”
“Where is Mrs. Stanhope’s daughter?”
“I don’t know. If Crabtree marries Mrs. Stanhope, it will break Dora all up.”
“Well, that isn’t our affair. But it is queer we should run together on this island. We can—What is that? A sail!”
Arnold Baxter leaped to his feet, and so did Dan. Tom and Sam also looked in the direction pointed out.
There was a sail, true enough, far out on the lake. All watched it with interest and saw it gradually grow larger. Evidently the craft was heading directly for the island.
“She is coming this way, dad!” almost shouted Dan.
“It looks so to me,” replied Arnold Baxter, with increasing interest. “And she isn’t the Peacock, either.”
“No, she’s a strange ship—a sloop, by her rig.”
The Baxters watched the coming sail eagerly, and it must be confessed that the Rover boys were equally interested.
“If the folks on that boat are honest, they will surely help us against the Baxters,” murmured Sam.
“Just what I was thinking,” replied his brother.
At last the vessel was near enough to be signaled, and, running to a high rock overlooking the water, Dan swung his hat and a handkerchief in the air.
At first the signals were not seen, but at last came a voice through a speaking trumpet.
“Ahoy, there!”
“Ahoy!” shouted Dan. “Come here! Come here!”
“What’s the trouble?”
“We are wrecked. We want you to take us off.”
“Wrecked?”
“Yes. Will you take us off?”
“Certainly.”
Slowly, but surely, the sloop drew nearer. She was a fair-sized craft, and carried a crew of three. The men seemed to be nice fellows, and not at all of the Captain Langless class. Soon the sloop dropped anchor close in shore and the mainsail came down at the same time.
CHAPTER XXIX
DORA STANHOPE APPEARS
“So you have been shipwrecked?” said the master of the sloop, a young man of apparently twenty-five, whose name was Fairwell.
“Yes,” answered Baxter senior.
“Your own boat, or some large vessel?”
> “Our own boat. We were out on a little cruise when we struck something in the dark and our craft went down almost immediately. Fortunately we were not far from this shore, or we would have been drowned. Where are you bound?”
“Nowhere in particular. How long have you been on the island?”
“Since night before last?”
“All alone?”
“Yes.”
“Had anything to eat?”
“Well—er—not much,” stammered Arnold Baxter. “We found some wreckage with some bread and a few cans of sardines, but that is all.”
“Then I reckon you won’t go back on a square meal?” laughed Fairwell.
“Indeed I won’t!” put in Dan, bound to say something.
“We would like to get back to the mainland as soon as possible,” went on Arnold Baxter. “I am from Chicago, and must attend to some banking matters. My name is Larson—Henry Larson of State Street.”
“Well, Mr. Larson, we’ll get you to the main shore as soon as we can; that is, providing the lady who has hired this sloop is willing to go on without stopping here. I reckon this young man is your friend?”
“He is my son. And you are—?”
“Randy Fairwell, at your service, sir. It’s too bad you were wrecked, but you can be thankful your life was spared. Seen anybody around here since you’ve been ashore?”
“Not a soul.”
“Nor any sail?”
“Nothing. It has been very, very lonesome,” and Arnold Baxter shook his head hypocritically.
Tom and Sam listened to this talk with keen interest. Tom now nudged his brother.
“This has gone far enough,” he whispered. “Those men seem all right and I’m sure will prove our friends. I’m going to show myself.”
“Wait till the Baxters go on board,” replied Sam. “Otherwise they may take it into their heads to run away again.”
A few words more followed between those on the sloop and the Baxters, and then the latter ran on the deck of the sloop by means of a plank thrown out for that purpose.
Then Tom came forward, stick in hand, and Sam followed.
“Hold those men!” he cried. “Don’t let them get away from you!”
Of course the men on the sloop were much astonished, both by the boys’ sudden appearance and by the words which were spoken.
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