"Let me be!" roared the chief.
"Will you guide us to the top of the cliff?"
"Will you pay us the thousand dollars you promised us for taking you out to sea?" whined Tom. "If you go back from your word, you need not ask favors of us."
"You have not taken us to sea yet."
"That's because you haven't given us a chance. We can do it, and we will, too, if you will stay with us."
"Let go my collar, I say!" shouted Sam.
"Answer my question first," replied the robber.
"I don't know nothing about a way to the top of the cliff. Stand by, here, fellers. Hit him with a handspike, somebody."
The Crusoe men began to bustle about in a state of intense excitement, and the other burglar leaped over the rail to assist his companion. There was a lively prospect for a fight, and, no doubt, if Tom Newcombe had not interposed, the deck of the pirate vessel would have been the scene of a desperate conflict. The governor and his men were very much enraged at their passengers, and were fully determined that they should not leave the cove until they had kept their promise, in regard to the thousand dollars. Sam was a very stubborn fellow, and the robber would have found it a much more difficult task than he had bargained for to force the secret of the path from him. "It's no use, mister," said he, doggedly. "You may shake me as much as you please, but I just ain't a goin' to tell you what you want to know till I see the color of that money. You promised to give it to us, an' we're bound to have it. Punch him in the ribs with your boat-hook, Friday."
"O now, look here!" drawled the skipper. "I won't have any quarreling and fighting on a vessel I command. Stand back, Friday. Put away that handspike, Xury. If you are determined to leave us, I'll send a man to show you the way up the cliff."