“And who were they? Tell me! I want no nonsense now,” and Snopper Duke caught the sneak firmly by the shoulder.
“Ouch! Please don’t hurt me!” cried Codfish, in added alarm.
“Then answer me!”
“The two fellows I recognized were Captain Jack Rover and his cousin, Lieutenant Fred Rover.”
“You didn’t know the others?” put in Professor Grawson.
“No, sir. I didn’t see them well enough. They were all in the shadows.”
“I’ll investigate this,” cried Professor Duke. “Stowell, you come with me.”
“Oh, please don’t make me come!” cried the sneak. “They’ll almost kill me if they find I gave them away!”
“They sha’n’t touch you.”
“Oh, I know what they’ll do,” moaned Codfish. He had not forgotten how the Rover boys had sided with him on more than one perilous occasion, and it scared him half to death to think what they might do when they discovered how meanly he was acting.