“If you can we’ll be ashore in a jiffy,” Halstead responded eagerly.
“Ashore?” demanded Ted.
“Why, of course. I’ve come to rescue you. There’s nothing to fear if you’re quick about it. But be lively. If you can’t swim, then just slip down into the water and trust yourself to me. I’ll manage it for both of us. Be quick about it, though, for every minute counts.”
“There’s some mistake, somewhere,” pronounced Ted, a decided coldness in his tone.
“Mistake?” echoed Halstead, as though the other had struck him. “What do you mean, Ted? Don’t you remember me? I’m in charge of your father’s motor boat. I’ve been looking for you for days, and now you can escape.”
“But I don’t want to escape,” declared Master Ted coolly, almost sneeringly. “Besides, there’s nothing to escape from.”
“Nothing to escape from?” echoed Tom aghast. “Why, Ted Dunstan, you simply can’t know what you’re saying. Look how this crowd have used you.”
“Well, then, how have they used me?” Ted challenged coolly. “I am having the time of my life.”
“The time of your——Say, Ted Dunstan, have you any idea how nearly crazy your father is over your absence?”
“That’s strange,” mocked the Dunstan heir. “My father knows perfectly well where I am, and just why, too.”