He drew a pipe from his mouth, and leisurely filled and lighted it before Jack found words to reply.
"Are you going to set us ashore?" he questioned in as determined a voice as he could summon.
"Certainly we are," was the astonishing reply. "What's the matter with you kids, anyhow?"
"What did you lock us in that hold for, and almost starve us and nearly let us die of thirst in that foul hole?" choked out Sandy.
Captain Rangler assumed a cleverly imitated look of astonishment.
"Were you locked up in there?" he demanded.
"Of course we were; as if you didn't know it," blurted out Jack.
"Now, now, just hold your horses," counseled the captain. "If you were locked in there, I knew nothing of it. Dampier and Walstein promised me no violence would be offered you if I kidnapped you for them."
"Oh, so you do admit capturing us on that lumber dock at Rockport?" sarcastically inquired Sandy.
"Of course I do; I can't deny that," said the captain with cool effrontery, "but Dampier and Walstein spun me a yarn about you being two runaway sons of some relatives of theirs and that you had stolen quite a sum of money."