“One part of their story seemed probable,” said Phil, “and that was that Chap got mad and bolted into the woods after us. He isn’t the fellow to stand still and see his property taken off without making a fuss.”
“No, indeed!” added Phœnix, earnestly.
“If their story is true,” said Adam, “and Chap ran into the woods after us, he must have taken the wrong track, or we would have seen him. There is a path which leads to the left not very far from the beach.”
“Yes,” said Phil, “Phœnix and I noticed that, and debated a little which way we should go, and finally concluded to keep to the right.”
“Yes,” said Adam, “that’s what he must ’a’ done, and that’s the way we missed him. I don’t believe them fellers did anything to him. There couldn’t ’a’ been any need of it, for I ’spect they sneaked off with the boat while he was on shore.”
“And what are we going to do about it?” said Phœnix. “Let them off scot-free while we go back after Chap?”
“Well,” said Adam, “we can’t very well kill the rascals, and it wouldn’t pay to hold on to ’em. The best thing we can do is to get rid of ’em as soon as we can.”
“And then go back after Chap,” suggested Phœnix.
“I don’t know about that,” said Adam, a little absently.
He was looking at Phil, and noticed that the boy was very pale and silent, and that he sat doubled up as if he felt weak and tired.