“It must be that ship!” exclaimed Phil.
“They’ll get away sure, unless you can stop ’em,” put in Merwell, and he seemed to be almost as interested as anybody. It galled him exceedingly to think that his companion in crime might escape.
“Roger, how did you learn this?” asked Dave.
“In a queer kind of a way. Billy Dill got on the trail of the three Englishmen first and we followed them to one of the caves. Then one of the Englishmen went away and after a while he came back with Jasniff, and all hands went to another cave, close to the shore. We got into one part of the cave and overheard what the crowd said, through a crack in the rocks. We might have confronted Jasniff and demanded the jewels, but we saw that the Englishmen were all armed and they looked to be in an ugly mood, and Captain Sanders wanted no bloodshed if it could be avoided. So then Billy Dill and I said we would come back here and get Phil and the sailors.”
“I should think you’d do your best to capture Jasniff,” said Merwell.
“Do you want him captured?” asked Roger, sharply.
“Why not? He didn’t treat me fairly—and he planned the robbery in the first place.”
“Well, if you want him taken you had better help us,” put in Phil.
“Say, Dave, if I help you catch Jasniff and get the rest of the jewels back, will you—er—will you let me go?” faltered Link Merwell, anxiously.
“I don’t know—I’ll see about it, Link,” answered Dave, and that was as far as he would commit himself, for he remembered that this case was for Mr. Wadsworth and the authorities to settle.