“But you got it last night!” insisted the other. “You rented it for an hour and never brought it back. What have you done with it?”
“Guess again!” Alex replied. “I slept all night. Never saw your old boat. It was some one else who rented it.”
“Well, the boy who got it said he wanted to bring a friend off this boat, and that he would return it before midnight.”
“You’ve been buncoed!” Alex laughed.
“Wait a minute,” Case broke in. “There may be something to this. You say a boy got a boat of you to row out to the Rambler?” he asked of the man, now getting ready to board the boat and make physical trouble for the boys.
“That’s what I said. Where is that boy now?” “What sort of a looking boy was it?” asked Case, patiently.
“A little bit of a chap. He was wet as a rat, and said he had swum off this boat and wanted to row out to bring a friend off.”
“Well, did you watch him after he left with the boat?”
“Yes, and he came out here; and then another boy got into the boat with him and they rowed ashore. I want my boat or good pay for it—right now!”
“If you come up here with your threats,” Alex declared, “you’ll get a rap over the head—and I’ll set the dog on you!”