"What is that to you?"
"Everything. That man is my father, and they have kidnapped him. Maybe you know that kidnapping is a State's prison offense," added the oldest Rover boy, sharply.
"Humph! I ain't had nothing to do with any kidnapping, young fellow," growled the man. "I'm the mate o' this schooner, that's all. If anything is wrong, you'll have to see the captain about it."
"You say he went ashore?"
"Yes."
"Did those men and my father go with him?"
"All of 'em went, yes."
"Who was left here besides you?"
"Those two dago sailors, that's all," and the mate pointed to two men who lay on the forward deck, asleep.
"Are you willing to have me take a look around?" went on Dick, after a pause.