!" replied
Tommy. "The boy really wasn't able to be moved!"

"Fever?" asked Boswell.

Tommy hesitated a moment before replying. He was in doubt as to just how
much he ought to tell Boswell. The fellow seemed to be friendly enough,
and might be useful in case the lads were arrested for piracy, as, if he
saw fit, he could testify that Jamison was not carrying out his
agreement with them, but, instead, was planning to maroon them on a
barren island in the gulf. Owing to these considerations it seemed best
to keep on good terms with the fellow, and yet Tommy did not care to
describe in full what had taken place at the cabin.

"No, the boy isn't sick of fever," Tommy finally answered. "He received
a wound on the head and lies unconscious."

Both boys thought they saw Boswell give a quick start, but in a moment
his face was as impassive as ever.

"Do you know what Jamison was up to?" asked Sam after a short pause.

Boswell looked keenly at the boy before answering.

"I only know what he told me!" he replied.

"What did he tell you?"

"He said he had a joke on you boys; that he was charging you three
hundred dollars for a trip to Cordova, and that he meant to leave you on
the first little island in the gulf that he came to."

"Did he tell you why he was going to do that?" asked Tommy.

Again Boswell looked keenly at his questioner.

"I guess I'd better not answer that question," he said finally.

"I wish you would answer it," Tommy urged. "I ought to know just what
motive the fellow has for throwing obstacles in my way.

"He thinks it's funny!" answered Boswell.

"That isn't the correct answer," Tommy insisted. "He has some motive for
what he is trying to do. I'd like to know what that motive is."

"You can't find out from me!" declared Boswell.

"You must be a chum of his!" sneered Sam.

"I hate the ground he walks on!" replied Boswell. "I wouldn't have hired
out to him at all if I hadn't been drunk. But I'm not going to repeat to
any one what he told me in confidence!"

"We shall have to put you off some distance this side of Cordova," Tommy
suggested, "because if we don't you're likely to make us trouble by
reporting the case of alleged piracy as soon as we land."

"You needn't trouble yourself about my reporting anything," Boswell
answered. "I'm not mixing with Jamison's affairs! If you boys are
arrested for piracy, I'll tell all I know about it, and that won't do
you any harm."

Dawn came slowly