"Remember what they did for us yesterday," spoke up Ted Pollock.
"We do!" said Nat, a little taken aback. "We do! But that doesn't give 'em the right to insult us, does it?"
"Nobody has tried to," said Bob; "quit your row."
"And it's a good thing they haven't," blustered Nat. "All the same, I was never so mad in my life. Do you think I can't see what 'Skinny' was driving at?"
"Yes, it was simply written all over his face," added Hackett, who, however, winked a half dozen times at the Ramblers, and appeared to have some difficulty in repressing a laugh.
"Come on, Nimrods," said Nat, a moment later. "This nice gang doesn't want our company."
With these words, the angry "chief pirate" turned away, Hackett and the others reluctantly following.
"Certainly fine chaps, all of 'em," observed Sam Randall, in disgusted tones. "Think that Nat would have flared up so quickly unless he knew something about it? I don't."
"Looks very queer! Everything happens to us, and nothing to them," asserted the captain. Then he added: "Don't let us fool any more time away. That engine has to be fixed. Good thing we brought an extra supply of wire along."
It was not a hard task to replace the ones which had been cut, and Bob succeeded in making a very quick job of it.