"I don't suppose you want to go to Blacksnake Island, do you, Biff?" called out Joe.
"I'll say I don't! Once is enough."
"Me, too," chimed in Chet, as the three boats, running abreast, headed in the direction of Barmet village.
Blacksnake Island, out in the open sea some distance down the coast, had been the scene of perilous adventures for the chums. Some time previous Chet Morton and Biff Hooper had gone out in Biff's launch and had been kidnaped by a gang of crooks who mistook them for the Hardy boys and who wished to revenge themselves upon Fenton Hardy. They had been taken to Blacksnake Island, as has already been told in the fourth volume of this series, "The Missing Chums."
"I never want to see the place again," shouted Biff. "I had enough of it to last me a lifetime."
"Between snakes and crooks, we had plenty of excitement," Frank said.
"Excitement!" declared Chet, settling back comfortably. "Why, I am sure that was nothing."
"What do you mean, nothing?" demanded Joe. "If anything more exciting ever happened to you, I'd like to hear of it."
"Haven't I ever told you of the time I was the only survivor of a shipwreck that cost ninety-four lives?"
His comrades looked at Chet suspiciously. Chet Morton's joking proclivities were well known. His jests were invariably harmless, but he dearly loved a laugh and some of his hair-raising fictions were famous among the boys.