“I’m not going to argue about it. I’m going back to town and take up this matter with Jefferson. He gave me to understand that he wanted to sell the island, but he wants too much money for it. That’s why I came out here to look the place over.”
“You seem to come out quite often,” remarked Frank. “Well, you’ll find us in charge here from now on. Any time you can bring us a note signed by Mr. Jefferson, stating that you have permission to visit the place, we’ll let you in. Just now, though, I think you’d better clear out.”
Hanleigh clenched his fists, glared at the boys for a moment, and then turned on his heel. Without another word, he went away. The boys followed him around the side of the cabin and watched him as he strode heavily down the slope, muttering to himself.
“We’ll see that he does go away,” declared Frank.
The boys followed.
Near the edge of the cliff they saw Hanleigh turn and look back. He seemed surprised to find that they had followed him. Then, evidently deciding that further opposition was useless, he went on down the path that led toward the boathouse at the base of the cliff.
The boys stood watching until he reached the boathouse, and they watched until he emerged again with Tad Carson and Ike Nash. The trio stood looking up for a moment, and Hanleigh shook his fist in their direction.
“Merry Christmas!” shouted Chet.
If Hanleigh heard the greeting, he did not return it in kind.
The interlopers went on down the shore toward the place where they had left their ice-boat. They vanished around the bend. After a while, the boys saw the ice-boat emerge into the open bay and recede swiftly in the direction of Bayport.