CHAPTER XII
Seasick
The Hardy boys were not prepared for this sudden change of front on the part of the stranger. They gazed incredulously at the revolver, but the coldly determined face of their passenger convinced them that the man meant to use force if necessary.
"Keep right on toward Bayport!" he ordered. "Don't turn back."
"What's the big idea?" demanded Frank indignantly.
"The idea is that I want to go to Bayport, and if you won't take me there of your own free will, I'll just have to persuade you, that's all. This gun is loaded, so don't make any foolish moves."
The boys looked at one another, and the stranger began to chuckle.
"Be reasonable now," said the man with the gun. "I have to catch that train, or I'll miss the wedding. I can't let you bring me back to the village. My friends would never let me hear the end of that joke. It's just by luck I had this revolver in my pocket—but still, if you turn this boat around, I'll use it."
He was trying to pass the affair off as more or less of a joke but there was no mistaking the steely glint in his eyes or the hardness of his voice.
Frank looked at his brother, and shrugged.