“Give you these! I guess not!” sneered Bruce. “They are just what we want—the land papers. They’re the only ones by which the widow could prove her shadowy claim to the property, and with them out of the way it’s all clear sailing for us.
“This is the luckiest thing that could have happened for us! The breaking of the red oar came at the right time. Kelly, give me a match and we’ll make a little bonfire of these same papers.”
“Don’t you dare!” cried Denny, and, making a leap forward he snatched from Kelly’s hands the precious documents that had so strangely come from the secret hiding place in the red oar.
CHAPTER XXVIII
THE DISCOVERY—CONCLUSION
Wild with rage the three men with one accord made a leap for Denny Shane. But the old fisherman was not to be easily taken. Holding the precious papers close to him, he made a jump for a corner of the room, where hung an old musket.
“Oh, he’s going to shoot!” screamed Bess.
“And small blame to him if he did,” declared Cora. “Oh, those men must not destroy those papers, if I have to take them in charge myself!”