eaving a note, written on a piece of paper from
a cracker box, they set out.

Up to noon they had found nothing, but an hour later Andy, who was in
the lead, suddenly uttered a cry as he turned a little promontory and
started down a level stretch of beach.

"There's our man!" he cried. "He's just come ashore, and the wrecked
motor boat is there too! It must have drifted away and he went after
it. He has a man with him!"

Frank saw what his brother indicated. Disembarking from a large
rowboat were two men--one the mysterious stranger who had imprisoned
them in the cave. The other seemed to be a boatman, or fisherman. The
two were pulling up on the beach the battered hull of the wrecked motor
boat, now more dilapidated than ever.

"What shall we do?" asked Andy.

"Let's go right up to him," proposed Frank.

"He ought to be afraid of us now, and he may play right into our hands."

They started forward, but, were suddenly stopped by loud voices between
the two men, neither of whom had yet noticed the approach of our heroes.

"I want my pay now!" they heard the boatman declare.

"And you won't get it until I'm ready to give it to you," retorted the
mysterious man angrily. "Now you help me get this boat farther up on
the sand."

"I won't do another thing! I'm done with you. Give me my money!"

"No!"

"Then take that!"

With a quick motion the boatman drew back his fist and sent it with all
his force into the face of the mysterious man. The latter reeled under
the blow, staggered for a second, and then toppled over backward on the
sand, falling heavily.

"Try to cheat me, will you!" shouted the man. Then he caught sight of
the boys. A change seemed to come over him. He shoved out the big
rowboat, ran out after it, holding to the stern and then leaped in.
The next moment he was pulling away lustily.

The mysterious man lay motionless on the sands.

"Now's our chance!" cried Frank. "That was a lucky quarrel for us. We
can capture him. That boatman saved us a hard job. Come on, Andy!"

Together the brothers ran forward.

CHAPTER XXVI

THE PRISONER

"What had we better do to him?" asked Andy, as they neared the
prostrate man.

"Tie him up so he can't get away again," replied Frank, as he glanced
at the seaman who was rapidly rowing away. "If we keep him, now that
we've got him, he may tell us what we want to know. And we've got the
wreck of the motor boat, too. We sure ought to