d Bill. "We harpooned it the other day, and
we've been hunting for it ever since. We thought we saw a motor boat
towing it away to-day, and chased after it just about the time Jack
spied you lads in the rowboat hauling something. Jack wanted to take
after you, but the rest of us thought the motor boat had our prize, so
we lost time until we found it was only a wrecked boat that they were
towing. Then we came after you. I wish we'd caught you before you
hauled this up on shore, as we're going to have trouble getting our
whale off again."

"What makes you say that's _your_ whale?" demanded Andy hotly.

"Because it is," answered Jack. "We struck it, though it didn't die
right away. Now you folks keep back, and we'll haul it off. Come on,
fellows!" he called to the others in the motor boat. "Lend a hand
here, it's bigger than I thought."

"That's not your whale, and you can't have it!" cried Frank
determinedly. "We picked it up at sea, and towed it in. My brother
and I saw it several days ago, and it struck one of our boats. It's
our whale, and we intend to keep it."

"Get out of the way!" roughly cried the man called Bill. "We haven't
time to bother with you," and he elbowed Frank to one side.

CHAPTER XI

A FIRE ON BOARD

Surprise at the bold claim of their rivals held the three boys almost
spellbound for a moment. The possibility that someone should seek to
get possession of the whale they had brought ashore after such labor,
and almost as soon as they landed, had never occurred to them. Yet the
fishermen seemed determined, for one of them began casting off Bob's
anchor line, and several more of the burly chaps, in their long rubber
boots, leaped overboard from the boat, and waded ashore.

"What had we better do?" asked Andy of his brother. "Are you going to
let them take our whale?"

"Not much!" exclaimed Frank, with a determined tightening of his lips.
"I'm going to fight every inch. They shan't take it away."

"Let's appeal to the crowd," suggested Andy. "Tell 'em just how we
found the whale, and they won't let these men take it away from us."

Frank looked doubtful as to the wisdom of that course. Meanwhile the
men were busily preparing to tow the whale away out to sea in the
powerful motor boat.

"If my father was only here," began Bob, "he would know what to do, and
what our rights were. There are certain laws about whales and things
found at sea, and he'd make these fellows