“Why shouldn’t it suit you? Neither of you is working.”
“That’s all right. Tad and I were just talking it over as we came up here to-night. We’d like to know more about this business. Hanleigh. We have an idea there may be something crooked about it.”
Hanleigh stared at them incredulously. That these allies should be inclined to back out had never entered his calculations.
“Crooked!” he exclaimed. “Of course not. I’m thinking of buying the island and naturally I want to look the place over before I make an offer.”
“Yes? Why don’t you wait until summer? The winter is no time of year to inspect an island.”
Hanleigh became angry.
“Will you two mind your own business!” he blustered. “Is it any concern of yours why I want to go to the island. I pay you well for carrying me there, and all you have to do is keep your mouths shut.”
“We won’t keep ’em shut,” remarked Nash, “unless we get more money than you have been giving us.”
“I’ve been paying you very well, I think. Ten dollars each is very good money for a trip that most boys would be glad to take just for the fun of it.”
“We don’t run the ice-boat just for our health,” said Carson. “Every time we go there we have to hang around and freeze until you are ready to come back. You won’t even let us go up to the cabin with you. I’d like to know what there is about that place that interests you so much.”