Phil," announced Dave. "Come
on, don't give up this way! Maybe we'll find some extra large fish up
there."

Once more they set out, and soon found themselves in a small clearing,
backed up by a cliff fifteen or twenty feet in height, and overgrown
with brushwood and trailing vines.

"Hark! What was that?" exclaimed Phil, as both came to a halt
preparatory to casting their lines into the stream.

"I think it was a shout," answered Dave. "Maybe the others are calling
to us."

"No, I think the call came from up on the cliff, Dave. Listen, there it
is again!"

Both strained their ears and soon heard another cry. This time it was
much closer.

"Stop! stop! let me alone!" Such were the words that floated to their
ears. "Please don't hit me! Let me alone!"

Dave and Phil looked at each other curiously.

"Who can it be?" questioned the shipowner's son.

"I don't know, but I guess we had better try to find out," answered our
hero.

CHAPTER XIX

THE CAPTURE OF LINK MERWELL

"Where did that cry come from, Dave?"

"I think it came from the top of the cliff, Phil. Listen! there it goes
again."

Both boys strained their ears once more, and now heard another voice,
heavy and threatening.

"Leave this place! Leave at once, I command you! No one has any right to
disturb me!"

"Don't hit me, I'll go!" returned the one who had first spoken, and a
few seconds later he came into view at the edge of the cliff.

"Hello, it's Link Merwell!" burst out Dave, in amazement.

"Yes, and see, that wild man is after him!" added the shipowner's son.

He was right. Following closely upon the appearance of Link Merwell the
boys at the foot of the cliff had seen some brushwood thrust aside, and
now appeared the strange fellow who had so frightened the girls some
time previously. He was dressed up more fantastically than ever, and had
his face smeared with red and yellow. Over his shoulder, suspended by a
strap, he carried an old-fashioned fowling piece, and in his hands was a
heavy club.

"Go away from here! Go away, I say, and never come back!" cried the
strange individual, dancing around wildly and flourishing his club close
to Link Merwell's head.

"All right, I'm going! Please don't hit me!" pleaded the youth, who was
plainly in terror of his life. And then, in his haste to escape, he took
several steps forward.

"Look out there, or you'll have a bad fall!" yelled Dave, in quick
alarm.

The warning, however, c