“First of all,” Frank decided. “We are going to wait until this storm dies down. Then we are going to take you back to Bayport.”
“Not to the police!” shouted Hanleigh, in terror.
“No—not to the police. I imagine Mr. Jefferson will be content with getting the stamps back. We promised not to turn you over to the police if you confessed, and we’ll keep our promise. But you must get out of Bayport.”
“I never want to see the place again,” groaned Hanleigh.
“We are going to explain the whole affair to Mr. Jefferson and return the stamps to him. It will be a return for his kindness in letting us have the island for our outing.”
“I guess our outing is finished,” remarked Chet regretfully, with a glance at the ruined roof.
“We didn’t have many more days to stay, anyway,” consoled Frank. “And I’d rather get to the bottom of a mystery like this than have all the outings in the world.”
“That’s right,” agreed his brother.
CHAPTER XXV
Elroy Jefferson Is Pleased
The storm died down early that afternoon, and the chums left the island and set out for Bayport, with the injured Hanleigh wrapped in blankets on one of the ice-boats. Hanleigh was completely beaten. When he got back to Bayport he managed to make his way to the railway station, caught the first train, and was never seen in the city again. It was fortunate for him that he left when he did. The Hardy boys made no report to the police, so he had nothing to fear from that quarter, but Tad Carson and Ike Nash, wrathful at the loss of their boat, were anxious to find their erstwhile employer.