“It’s a regular army!” exclaimed one of the crew. And putting on as much of an air of bravado as he could with his hands above his head, he demanded, “What do you want of us? We’re not stealing anything. We found that chest here.”
“Keep your hands up!” cautioned Cotterell, as he walked forward. “As you say, you’re surrounded by an army. And while your hands are up, I’ll ask some of my friends to see if you have weapons in your pockets.”
The search was quickly made, and each man relieved of a pistol.
“Now,” said Cotterell, “you may ease your muscles. But let me tell you the first one who tries to get away will be knocked down and handcuffed.”
“All right. We’ll go easy,” said the man who was known to David as Sam. “But I don’t know what you’re after. We came ashore and saw this box in that crack in the rocks.”
“It’s my box,” said Cotterell. “I own everything on this island.”
“Well, take it if it’s yours,” growled Sam. “We don’t want it. I thought a box on the beach was public property.”
“You think a good many things are public property,” Cotterell retorted. He looked at Ben and David. “Have either of you seen this man anywhere before?”
“I have,” said David. “He’s the fellow who carried me off in that boat out there.”
“Has anybody here seen any of these other men?” Cotterell asked next.