"You are carrying us off against our will."
The owner of the Peacock shrugged his shoulders.
"You'll have to talk that over with Baxter and his son."
"You've been starving us."
"We were just going to furnish you with breakfast and a small keg of water."
"We don't want to stay in that foul-smelling hold," put in Sam. "It is enough to make a fellow sick."
"If you'll promise to behave yourselves, we may let you on deck part of the time."
"You'd better," grumbled Tom. He hardly knew what to say, and his brothers were in an equal quandary.
"Come, throw down your arms and we'll give you breakfast here in the cabin," continued Captain Langless. "You won't find me such a bad chap to deal with, when once you know me. You look like decent sort of fellows, and if you do the right thing I'll promise to see to it that the Baxters do the square thing, too. We'll be better off on a friendly footing than otherwise."
The owner of the Peacock spoke earnestly, and it must be admitted that he meant a large part of what he said. The manliness of the Rover boys pleased him, and he could not help but contrast it with the cowardice of the bully, Dan. Perhaps, too, behind it all, he was a bit sick of the job he had undertaken. He knew that he had virtually helped to kidnap the boys, and, if caught, this would mean a long term of imprisonment.