"You've still got him on close diet?" asked Walstein.
"Have I? Should say so. He's getting as thin as a rail; but he's just as obstinate as an old army mule. Won't tell nothing."
"Humph! Well, he'll talk after awhile. By the way, we'll have two other prisoners to join him before long."
"How's that?" grunted Bill Barkentin, without betraying any special interest.
"Why, two boys whom we were holding for ransom have escaped," rejoined Walstein. "They fled from the tug, and are now on this island some place. You know the island better than any one else. When we've had something to eat you had better guide us all over it on a thorough search."
"No need to search," grunted Bill Barkentin as imperturbably as if what he had just heard was not news to him.
"How's that, Bill?" asked Dampier, in a sort of mocking voice. It was plain that he despised this taciturn old keeper of the rascals' rendezvous.
"'Cos they're here now," announced Bill, replenishing his pipe, which had gone out.
"What!" exclaimed Dampier. "Do you mean to say, you old barnacle, that you've actually got those two lads in the tower?"
"Yep. They're tucked in their little bed at this very minute. I found 'em stuck in a marsh about four miles from here. As they had some money, I brought 'em here. I thought that after they got to sleep I'd get what coin they had and then turn them loose. But now I see things is different. They are your game, eh?"