"Those yarns are the very things that make me want to go down there," declared Frank.
The cock-eyed man looked surprised.
"You don't want to be ketched by the monster, do ye?"
"No, but we'd like to catch the monster," laughed Frank.
"You can't do that. The critter ain't human. If he ain't the devil hisself, he's one of the devil's imps."
"Well, we'd like to catch a genuine imp. If we could capture a real imp and take him to Boston or New York we could get a royal good figure for him from the manager of some dime museum. Freaks and curiosities are in great demand, and they are very scarce."
The cock-eyed man seemed astonished and disgusted.
"Why, you dern fools!" he exclaimed. "You don't 'magine you kin ketch a real imp, do ye?"
"We can give him a good hustle," answered Merry, with apparent seriousness. "He'll have to be lively if he gets away."
"I've hearn tell of how you city chaps didn't know much, but I did s'pose you knowed more'n that!" cried the man. "You'll be kerried off if you go down to Devil Island and try to chase the critter there. You'll disappear, an' you'll never be heard of ag'in."