Thereupon the four boys related the particulars of the trouble they had had with Professor Lemm, and of how he had left the military academy. They also told much about Slugger, and, incidentally, Nappy Martell, and of how the two cadets had been dismissed by Colonel Colby.
"This certainly is wonderful!" exclaimed the old lumberman, when they had finished. "I had no idea you boys knew anything about those men. I reckon your opinion of their honesty is just about as high as mine is," and he smiled grimly.
"Asa Lemm claims to have lost quite a fortune," said Jack; "but we certainly did not think that part of it was located in this island."
"It isn't located in this island—at least it isn't so far as I am concerned!" cried Uncle Barney. "If those men bought what they thought were the rights to this island, they were defrauded, that's all! And that has absolutely nothing to do with my rights to this land!"
"I should think if you got a good deed to the land from that Luke Martinson—and his folks had a good deed from somebody else—that ought to be proof enough that you own the island."
"Well, I've got the deed from Martinson, and I've got the old deeds he used to have, too! I've got them placed away in a tin box and in a safe place, too!" answered the old man.
"Then, if you've got those deeds, why do they bother you?" questioned Fred.
"As I've said before, they won't admit that the deeds old Mrs. Martinson had were any good. The fact of the matter is, Slogwell Brown wants to get those deeds away from me. He has been at me to let him look at the deeds several times, but I've always refused, for I was afraid that if he got the deeds away from me I would never see them again."
"I thought they recorded deeds at the Court House," said Jack, who had heard this fact mentioned between his father and his uncles.
"They do record deeds, and I suppose that one was recorded at some time or other; but the Court House in this county was burnt down some years ago and all the records went up in smoke."