The Rover Boys Down East Part 41

"Arrested!" gasped Larkspur, and turned pale. "You shan't do it!"

"I want you to stop following us," went on Koswell.

"Go ahead-don't talk to them any more!" whispered Larkspur, uneasily.

"Let us get away as soon as we can."

"I am not afraid," answered Koswell, boastfully.

"But they may have us locked up!"

"What's the row about?" asked the young man who was at the wheel.

"Oh, it was a row we had at college, Alf. Those fellows were in the wrong, but they made the Head believe otherwise, and we had to-er-resign," answered Jerry Koswell. "Well, go ahead, if you want to,"

he added.

"Where are you going?" asked Tom, as the motor boat commenced to move from the dock.

"We are bound for--" began the stranger.

"Don't tell them, Alf!" begged Larkspur. "Go ahead-let's get out."

"If you don't tell us where you are going--" began Sam, when d.i.c.k stopped him.

"Let them go-we haven't time to bother with them now," said the eldest Rover boy. "We have other fish to fry."

"As you say, d.i.c.k. But we ought to scare the wits out of them if nothing else."

"We'll do it-some day," put in Tom.

As the motor boat swept past they saw that the craft was named the Magnet. Soon some other boats coming in hid it from view.

On going ash.o.r.e, the Rover boys made diligent inquiries concerning the Mary Delaway and at last learned that the schooner was expected by a certain transportation company some time that afternoon, to take on a cargo of lumber for Newark, New Jersey.

"I don't know what we can do excepting to wait," said d.i.c.k.

"Let us go down the harbor to meet the schooner," said Tom. "Then Sobber and Crabtree and the others won't have any chance to land in secret."

"Do you think they'll try to land here, d.i.c.k?"

"Honestly Tom, I don't. It is more than likely the captain of the schooner will land that crowd on some island before he comes into Portland."

"Slay's Island?"

"Yes-if there really is such a place."

The steam tug left the dock and ran down to the neighborhood of Portland Light. Here they cruised around for nearly two hours, when old Larry Dixon gave a shout:

"I see her! I see her! There's the Mary Delaway!"

"Where?" asked the three Rovers, excitedly.

"There!" And the old sailor pointed with his hand. "I know her by the two patches on her mainsail and the slit in her jib."

The steam tug was headed in the direction of the incoming schooner, and before long the two craft were within hailing distance of each other.

"Aboard the schooner!" cried d.i.c.k.

"Aboard the tug!" was the answering hail.

"I want to talk to the captain."

"I'm the captain. What do you want?"

"I want you to lay-to and let me come on board."

"What for?"

"Business."

"I'm in a hurry," snapped the captain of the Mary Delaway, and the Rovers saw that he was a hard looking individual.

"You can suit yourself, Captain. But if you don't let me come on board I'll have you placed under arrest as soon as you reach your dock," said d.i.c.k, in the sternest voice he could command.

"Arrest!" roared the master of the schooner. "Don't you talk like that to me, you young whipper-snapper."

"I will talk like that to you-and I'll do just what I said."

"Have me arrested! You must be joking."

"I am not."

"What for?"

"You know well enough."

"Honestly I don't. You have made some mistake."

"Are you going to stop and let me come on board, or not?" went on d.i.c.k, as calmly as he could. "If you don't, it's arrest and nothing less. You can take your choice."

"I don't know what you are talking about," growled the captain. "But I suppose I'll have to let you come aboard, to avoid worse trouble."

The schooner was brought around, and not without difficulty d.i.c.k leaped aboard, followed by Tom and Sam. The captain of the schooner when he saw that they were only young men, glared savagely at them.

"Now then, explain yourselves!" he snapped, shortly.

"I want to know what you have done with Mrs. Stanhope?" said d.i.c.k, thinking it best to come directly to the point.

"Mrs. Stanhope? Who is she?"