k to the boat, seemingly. He had leaped out of the window
as the girls entered.

The cabin was a place of wild excitement.

"Get that oar away from him!" cried Bruce. "Here's some rope. Tie him
up, and then we'll get what we want out of him!"

"Don't you dare hurt him!" screamed Cora.

"Ah, would you?" gasped Denny, as he rolled out from under Kelly, who
had sought to pass a rope about the old man's wrists. "I'm not down
and out yet!" he panted. "The red oar is broken, but I've got the best
end yet."

He staggered to his feet, holding the handle of the red oar. One end
was splintered where it had been broken from the blade.

"Come on! I'm not afraid!" yelled Denny. "Come on. You girls had
better leave----there's going to be trouble!"

"We won't go! Help is on the way. The boys are coming!" cried Cora,
though she did not know when Jack and the others would arrive.

"Oh, if they were only here now! When we need them so!" gasped Lottie.

Again Denny swung what was left of the red oar around his head. He
aimed a blow at the face of Bruce, but it fell short and struck the
man on the shoulder.

Then a strange thing happened. The handle of the oar split lengthwise,
and from a hollow place inside there flew out a roll of papers, yellow
with age. And on one of them was a red seal--a legal-looking seal.

Bruce staggered at the blow, and a strange look came over his face. It
might have been that he was dazed, but his eyes lighted on the roll of
papers that had fallen to the floor. There they lay--a curious roll
that had come from the secret crevice in the red oar.

The struggle had come to a sudden end. The girls ceased screaming and
stood looking on dumbly, unable to understand what had happened.

As for the men they, too, seemed startled by the strange turn of events.
Kelly rose to his feet, and was creeping up on Denny from behind. His
arms were outstretched, and his fingers worked convulsively, as though
they would like to close about the fisherman's throat, and force him to
testify as the plotters desired.

Cora wanted to scream a warning, but some strange force seemed to hold
her dumb.

"The red oar--it's broken--broken! Me old red oar, that saved me
life!" murmured Denny Shane. "But I never knew 'twas hollow. Never! I
wonder did Grandfather Lewis----"

He did not complete the sentence, for at that instant Bruce leaped
forward and caught up the roll of yellow papers from the floor.

"Give me those!" crie