“No!”
“Then take that!”
With a quick motion the boatman drew back his fist and sent it with all his force into the face of the mysterious man. The latter reeled under the blow, staggered for a second, and then toppled over backward on the sand, falling heavily.
“Try to cheat me, will you!” shouted the man. Then he caught sight of the boys. A change seemed to come over him. He shoved out the big rowboat, ran out after it, holding to the stern and then leaped in. The next moment he was pulling away lustily.
The mysterious man lay motionless on the sands.
“Now’s our chance!” cried Frank. “That was a lucky quarrel for us. We can capture him. That boatman saved us a hard job. Come on, Andy!”
Together the brothers ran forward.
CHAPTER XXVI
THE PRISONER
“What had we better do to him?” asked Andy, as they neared the prostrate man.
“Tie him up so he can’t get away again,” replied Frank, as he glanced at the seaman who was rapidly rowing away. “If we keep him, now that we’ve got him, he may tell us what we want to know. And we’ve got the wreck of the motor boat, too. We sure ought to get at the bottom of this mystery now.”