"They are ready and waiting for us, it seems, Mr. Wilson; but I can't get in to the shore with the sloop, and how will you get your goods on board? You ought to have brought your skiff."
"They have a boat, a better one; that's why I left the other," said he; "but run in as close as you can and anchor, and I'll tell them to load up and come on board."
Not a shadow of the coming evil was as yet apparent to the unsuspicious boy. Giving his whole attention to his sloop, he only cast the merest glance at the men on shore until he had anchored. At liberty now, however, he looked steadily at the men, to whom Mr. Wilson was already shouting. Then he gave a sharp cry of alarm, and drawing his pocket-knife he sprung forward to cut the anchor-cable. His words were:
"Gracious! There is Bagsley, and you are the robbers!"
But quick as he was, Mr. Wilson was quicker. Springing upon the lad, he bore him down upon the forward deck and called loudly for help. Two of the men on shore jumped into a yawl that lay hidden behind a projecting rock, and without stopping to load their stuff pushed out to the sloop. One of the men was Bagsley himself, and when he had assisted Mr. Wilson in tying the lad, hand and foot, he gave a look at him, and then with a terrible oath exclaimed:
"It is Budd Boyd! Where did you run in with him?"
Mr. Wilson briefly explained how he had hired the boy, not supposing for an instant that he knew any of the gang. "But," he went on, "the moment the lad caught sight of you he called your name, and said we were the robbers. He then tried to cut the anchor-cable, but I spoiled that little game. The question is, what shall we do with him?"
"Tie a big stone to his neck and to his feet and drop him overboard," answered Bagsley. "I told him I'd kill him the next time I saw him. He'll be sure to give us away, too, if we let him go, and our only safety is to put him out of the way."
Budd, as he lay bound only a few feet away, shuddered at the coolness with which the villain said these words, and felt that his very moments were numbered. To his surprise, however, the man who had come off from the shore with Bagsley, and whom he recognized as the leader of the gang when they were at Fox Island, said:
"No, there is to be no murder, boys, as long as we can get along without it. Put the boy into the yawl and take him ashore. We'll change our plans, and put him where he cannot give any alarm until we are out of all danger."