skip out if they were in the
wrong."

"Of course they're in the wrong!" cried Andy. "Didn't we see the whale
first, and didn't we to it home?"

"But they say they harpooned it," said Bob,

"Yes, and there was only one iron in it, Andy, when it broke your
boat," added Frank. "Now there are two harpoons in the back. One
might be theirs. I'm going to notify Justice Fanchard and see what he
says."

"Lively now, men!" called Bill, as Frank started off.

There was another movement on the outskirts of the throng, and someone
pushed his way in.

"It's dad!" cried Bob. "Hey, dad!" he shouted. "These men are going
to take our whale! We just towed it in, Frank and Andy Racer and me!
Can these men take it?"

"Of course we can, kid!" cried one of the fishermen. "Get out of the
way, if you don't want to be knocked down."

"Oh, it's you, is it, Jack Kett!" exclaimed Captain Trent. "And Bill
Lowden and his crowd. Well, you fellows would take anything, whether
it was yours or not. Now jest hold on a bit. Luff up and let's see
where we're at. Maybe you're on the wrong course and need new
clearance papers. Avast there, and let me know the particulars."

"There ain't any particulars except that we harpooned this whale, and
it's ours," growled Bill Lowden. "You needn't be putting your oar in,
Cap'n Trent. We know our rights. There's our iron, and it's got the
name of our boat branded in it--the _Scud_--you can see if you light a
match," for it was now dark.

"Hum! When did you strike it?" asked the captain, amid a silence, for,
as an old whaling master and one of the most influential residents of
Harbor View, the captain was universally respected.

"We were going along just outside the Shark's Teeth reef day 'fore
yesterday," spoke Jack Kett, "when our lookout spied the whale. We
keep a couple of irons aboard for sharks, dogfish and the like, and it
didn't take long to sink one in this critter. Then he sounded and we
couldn't pick him up again. We've been looking for him ever since, and
to-day we thought we saw someone in a motor boat towing our whale away.
I explained how we got on the wrong course," and he detailed what is
already known to my readers.

"Then we found the whale here," went on Jack Kett, "and we're going to
have it."

"Hum," mused the captain. "It looks as they had the right of it,
boys," he said in a low voice, to his son and the latter's chums.

"Ask them if the whale wasn't about