"I guess there's nothing else for it but bring him to Bayport," he muttered. "I don't want to get shot."
"That gun looks bad," agreed Joe. "There's not much joking about that part of it."
Frank bore down on the wheel and corrected the course of the boat so that they were soon bound directly for Bayport again.
"We'll take you to the city," he said to the stranger, "but I'm going to warn you that we'll turn you over to the police if we get a chance. That's a dangerous game you're playing, even if you say it is only a joke. It's a hold up."
"You'll think differently after we reach Bayport," promised the man. "I'll have my wife write you a letter of thanks after the wedding. I hate to use this revolver, but I can't miss that train."
The stranger's insistence on his story that he had to catch a train did not convince the Hardy boys by any means. They were still suspicious of their passenger, the more so now that he used force to induce them to take him to Bayport.
"I'd like to get that gun away from him," whispered Frank, as he bent over the wheel.
"Not much chance. He's watching us too closely."
"Trying to fix up some plot to get hold of this revolver?" asked the stranger. "You needn't bother. I hold the whip hand here."
"We know it," retorted Frank. "But wait till we get to Bayport."