lowing me? I won't have it! If you don't--" He
stopped short. A look of wonder followed by one of alarm came over his
face.

"The cave!" he exclaimed. "I left you in the cave. The tide was
rising. You--you--"

"Yes, we escaped, but no thanks to you!" exclaimed Frank sternly. "You
meant us to be drowned, but we found a way out, and now we have you
just where we want you, you rascal! You'll tell us what we want to
know, you'll clear up the mystery of Paul Gale, and you'll confess what
you want of this motor boat now, I guess."

"Suppose I refuse?"

"Then we'll take you before the authorities.

"Ha! Ha! A likely story. Marooned on this lonely island you can't do
much. You see I happen to know your boat is gone, and--"

"Gone, yes, because you took her," interrupted Andy.

"No, I didn't take either your sailboat or the rowboat," spoke the man
simply. "I wanted to, but some one else got ahead of me. I had to row
away from the island as the storm came up, and it was no joke, either."

"Then who did take our boats?" asked Andy blankly.

"I don't know," replied the man. "But I do know that you have more
than you bargain for if you think you can make me talk. There is no
one on this island but ourselves, now that Splane played me a mean
trick, and deserted. Talk of authorities! Ha! Ha! It's a joke," and
he pretended to be amused.

"We'll soon be off the island," said Frank, with more confidence than
he felt. "Our father will be looking for us, and may arrive at any
minute."

The man uttered an exclamation beneath his breath. Evidently he had
not counted on this. The two boys stood regarding him. Now that they
had him, they hardly knew what to do with the fellow.

With a suddenness that was surprising, considering that his feet were
tied, the man managed to stand upright. Then, with a mighty effort, he
tried to loosen the rope around his hands.

"When I get loose I'll show you what it means to trifle with me!" he
shouted. "You'll be sorry you ever meddled in this matter! Wait until
I get this rope off!"

He tried desperately to get it off his hands, and Andy saw the strands
loosening.

"Quick, Frank!" cried the younger lad. "We've got to take some more
turns on that! I'll help! He can't hurt us now!"

The two brothers fairly threw themselves on their prisoner and all
three went down in a heap on the sands.

CHAPTER XXVII

SEARCHING THE WRECK

There was a hard struggle