"But why were you carried off?" asked one of the other men on board of the sloop.
"These Baxters wanted to get our father to pay them money for our safe return."
"A kidnapping, eh?"
"It's a—a fairy story, and these fellows must be stark mad!" cried Arnold Baxter. "I give you my word, gentlemen, I never set eyes on the chaps before. Either they are escaped lunatics or else their lonely life here has turned their brains."
For a moment there was a pause; Sam and Tom standing at the end of the plank, clubs in hand, and the Baxters on the deck of the sloop, surrounded by the three men who had been sailing the craft. Those of the sloop looked from one party to the other in bewilderment.
"Well, I must say I don't know whom to believe," said Randy Fairwell slowly. He turned to the boys. "Who are you?"
"Tom Rover, and this is my brother Sam," answered the elder of the pair.
"I never heard the name before," said Arnold Baxter loftily.
"They don't appear to be very crazy," put in one of the men, whose name was Ruff.
"That's true, but they must be crazy or they wouldn't address my father and me in this fashion," said Dan Baxter.