“Do you think they’re going to keep us on board long, Ralph?”
“I don’t know. I must confess I don’t like the looks of things at all.”
“Randy has an idea that they’ll rob us of everything we’ve got,” said Spouter, in a low voice.
“Well, they certainly look like a bunch of thieves, or worse,” returned Jack.
“I made a mistake by letting that fellow Ferguson know that the Fancy is brand new,” said Ralph. “They’ll have their eyes on her, sure! They know she is worth quite a bunch of money.”
“Yes, and those rum-runners from shore could use such a motor boat very nicely,” remarked Randy.
“But if they keep the boat, how are we going to get ashore?” questioned Fred.
“Oh, maybe they’ll put us ashore in a rowboat,” answered Jack. “It would be just like them to do it. They may leave us with nothing but our bare clothing, and they may even take our things and give us some of their old rags.”
Looking at it from every point of view, it was a disheartening situation. One instant the boys felt like arming themselves as best they could and making a break for liberty; but the next, caution prevailed, and they knew that such a move would bring on a fight that might prove fatal to one or more of them.
When it came two bells in the first night watch Letts told the boys they could turn in and showed them where they could sleep in some vacant bunks and on the floor of the forecastle.