“Oh, yes. Well, neither Koku nor I knew how to manage the Gull, and your friend Bill Tagg wasn’t any better off, bless my rudder!” said Mr. Damon. “So we just let her run, and she slued around so much and acted so queerly after you were taken aboard the other boat that some fellows in a sailboat came to our aid. We told them what had happened—without going too much into your private affairs, Tom—and one of the men got aboard the Gull and brought us back to the dock where we started from. Then I hurried here to tell your father.”
“Then I got in touch with the police,” said Mr. Swift, taking up the story, “for I guessed that those aboard that other boat were your enemies, Tom. But the police didn’t know where to look. So what with you gone and nothing heard of Ned, we were in a great stew.”
“I can imagine it,” Tom said. “Of course you had no way of really knowing Ned was aboard the other boat, though I suppose from what happened and the sight of the bound figure in the bottom of the Turtle, you might have guessed Ned was aboard.”
“I surmised it,” assented Mr. Damon. “But we had no idea where they were taking you.”
“No, you couldn’t know that,” said Tom. “Well, we got away from the scoundrels, and the next thing is to catch them.”
Having given his father and Mr. Damon a hasty description of what had happened to him and Ned, Tom Swift set about the work of running down the miscreants.
The police were notified of the return of the young inventor, and a squad of officers was sent to Rattlesnake Island. Tom did not go, for he felt the need of rest. Besides, there were things at home which needed his attention.
“What was it you started to tell me when we were cut off, Mr. Jackson?” Tom asked his superintendent after the police had departed for the island.
“You mean about Greenbaum?”
“Yes. Is he still here?”