"They've robbed me!" moaned the old lumberman. "They came up behind me, and somebody hit me in the head with a rock! Then they ran away with my tin box!"
"Who was it? Are you badly hurt?" questioned Randy.
"I guess I'm not so awfully bad off, even though my head did bleed some," answered Uncle Barney. "But the worst of it is, they got away with my tin box—the one that's got the deeds to this island in it, and all my other valuables, including my dead wife's jewelry and a thousand dollars in gold."
By this time the boys were examining the old man's head. They saw where the rock had struck him, making quite a cut, from which the blood had flowed over one ear. It was much swollen, and over it Uncle Barney had tied a bandanna handkerchief.
"I'll get some snow and wash it off with that!" cried Fred, and did so. Then the wound was bound up once more, and Uncle Barney said he felt better. He told his story in detail.
"What am I going to do?" he groaned. "Those rascals have got my treasure box!"
"Who were they?" questioned Randy.
"I don't know exactly. I heard them talk, and faced them with my gun. They were in the dark, so I couldn't distinguish them very good. Then one of them threw a big rock, and that is all I can remember. As soon as I became unconscious they must have grabbed the box and run away with it."
"It must have been either Asa Lemm and Mr. Brown, or else Slugger and Nappy," said Randy.
"I don't know what I'm going to do, now those deeds are gone—not to say anything about my wife's jewelry and all that gold!" groaned the old lumberman.