and that
they'll never get; and if they try to use it illegally they'll find
themselves in hot water mighty quick.

"Another thing," he continued, "they're strangers to us, and drinking
men. They might pull our traps or accuse us of pulling theirs. There's a
chance for all sorts of mix-ups. No, they've got to go, and the sooner
the better."

"They're coming across to call to-night," said Lane.

"Not if we can get over there first. We'll go round in the sloop as soon
as these hake are dressed and salted."

At four o'clock the last fish was slapped down on the rounded-up tub.

"Now we'll go," announced Jim. "Come on, everybody! You, too, Filippo!
Might as well show up our full force. It may help stave off trouble."

"Aren't you going to take the gun?" Percy inquired.

"Gun? No! What'd we want of that? We don't intend to shoot anybody."

Twenty minutes after the _Barracouta_ left Sprowl's Cove she was
thudding into the Sly Hole. The sloop still lay at anchor in its center,
but the dory was grounded on the beach. From the woods above, ax-strokes
echoed faintly.

"Either cutting firewood or beginning on that camp," said Jim.

Presently the chopping ceased. Before long the two men appeared on the
top of the bank, dragging a spruce trunk about twenty feet long. On
seeing the _Barracouta_ they halted in surprise, then dropped the tree
and hurried down to their dory.

"Seem to be afraid we've been mousing round aboard their boat," muttered
Spurling.

Without responding to his hail the two strangers rowed hastily to their
sloop and went below. A minute or two of investigation evidently
satisfied them that nothing had been disturbed. As they came up again
Jim ran the _Barracouta_ alongside.

"Where you from?" he asked.

The younger man again acted as spokesman:

"Way off ... there!"

As when Budge had questioned him, he gestured vaguely toward the west.
Then he launched into a repetition of what he had said that forenoon.

"We stay on dis island all summer. Make trap. Build camp. Catch plenty
fish, plenty lobster. All friend, eh?"

He laid his left hand on his heart, and with his right made a sweeping
gesture that included the whole group.

"You wait!"

Dropping suddenly out of sight, he reappeared with equal quickness,
brandishing the black bottle.

"We drink ... all together, eh?"

Jim brushed his proffer aside.

"I've hired this island. You'll have to pay me rent if you stop here."

A shadow of