“I wouldn’t be surprised,” said Jack, “if he laid a trap for us, fellows. I dare say he wanted to see what we had here and thought that if we saw him going away we’d go up there to find Hal’s things. Then as soon as we’d gone he came back here, and overhauled our truck. If he didn’t take anything it was probably because he didn’t find anything he wanted.”
“Still,” objected Bee, “he did have some lobster-pots in his dory when we saw him and they weren’t there when he got back.”
“That’s easy. He might have left them most anywhere. Maybe, for that matter, he really did put them down somewhere nearby. Anyhow, I’m pretty sure he meant us to leave camp awhile so that he could look about.”
“He’s a regular old pirate, that’s what he is,” said Hal. “He must have robbed a ship-chandler’s to have got all that stuff he had up there.”
“More likely to have picked the things up one at a time, just as he picked up your things,” said Jack. “Well, the only thing to do is to see that he doesn’t add any more of our property to his museum of antiquities. What I don’t understand is why he keeps all that truck. What does he want of fourteen or fifteen clocks and all those sextants? Why doesn’t he sell them and get money?”
“Perhaps,” suggested Bee, “he is a collector. That might explain a lot, for they say that when a man has the collecting bee in his bonnet he isn’t always too particular how he gets things. Maybe Honest Bill really is honest—according to his ideas!”
“Well, they’re not mine,” grumbled Hal. “I don’t care about the value of the things he stole, but it makes me mad to have him get away with it! And to think of his having the cheek to offer to sell me my own oars!”
“That was another delicate touch of humor,” laughed Bee. “I thought you were going to burst right up, Hal, when he said that!”
“I’d like to punch his head,” said Hal.
“Maybe, but I wouldn’t advise you to try it,” replied Jack grimly. “He could take the three of us and bump our heads together, I guess. He looks as strong as an ox. What are we going to have for supper, fellows? I’m getting hungry.”