you are," said Jack decisively. "Eh, Bill?"

"Oh, by all means," assented Bill.

Sam was not included in the conversation, and gazed sullenly straight
in front of him as he lay where he had thrown himself on the fine white
sand.

"Oh, by no means," echoed Hank derisively. "Say, what do you fellows
take me for, the late lamented Mr. Easy Mark? If you do you have
another think coming."

"Now look here, Hank," argued Jack, "what's the objection? All you've
got to do is to take this note ashore, give it to some boy to deliver,
and then go to the crossroads at whatever time to-night you see fit and
get the money."

"Of course," Bill hastened to put in, "you've got to bring it to us for
proper division."

"Oh, I have, have I?" chuckled Hank. "Well, what do you think of that?
I'm to do all the work and you fellows are to get the bacon! That's a
fine idea--not! Four into two hundred doesn't go very many times, you
know."

"Not four," corrected Jack, "three. Sam is out of this. He's too much
of a coward to have anything to do with it," he added, mimicking Sam's
tone.

The boat-builder's son reddened, but said nothing in reply to the
bully's taunt.

"Well, three, then," went on Hank; "that's not percentage enough for
me. If I'm to have anything to do with this here job, I want half the
money. You fellows can split the rest between you!"

Jack and Bill exchanged blank looks.

"Now, look here, Hank, be reasonable," began Jack in a tone meant to be
conciliatory.

"Now, look here, Jack, be sensible," echoed Hank mockingly. "You seem
to forget that you owe me something for the job we did on those
uniforms the other night, and that other little errand you performed on
the island. You've got a very convenient memory, you have. Why, I
daresay those kids would have given me a nice little wad of tobacco
money to have told just who took their Sunday-go-to-meetin' suits, but
did I peach? No, you know I didn't; but," he added, with rising
emphasis, "if I don't get what's coming to me pretty soon, I will."

"Well, you idiot," began Jack truculently; "haven't you got your chance
now?"

"If I choose to take it--yes," was the rejoinder; "but I don't know as
I will. It seems to me I hold all the trumps and you are at my mercy."

"Why, you insolent dog!" bellowed Jack, rising to his feet from the
position in which he had been squatting. "For two cents I'd knock your
bewhiskered head off!"

He advanced threat