fair, Mr. Cooler. In no case do I propose to carry
passengers."

"I am not passengers. I am simply a passenger. I won't bother you a bit.
Even if you are not going to the island, I'll pay you to land me there."

"You seem very anxious to reach the place."

"I am. I am in a bigger hurry than a dog with a package of firecrackers
tied to his tail. It's a matter of business. No time is to be lost."

"You will have to seek another mode of conveyance."

"What? Now, you are not in earnest! Ha! ha! He! he! I see that you are
something of a joker. It's all right, all right. I tumble to your game."

"And I think I tumble to your game, Mr. Cooler," said Merry, sternly.
"You can have the information you want."

"The information?" repeated the queer old man, in apparent
consternation. "Why, it can't be that you are connected with the Eastern
Bay Land Syndicate?"

"I do not know anything about the Eastern Bay Land Syndicate."

"What a relief!" sighed Mr. Cooler. "Really, you gave me quite a start.
But I am ahead of them. If the island is as represented, I will secure
it. This part of the Bay is bound to become famous with summer people."

"I do not know what you are trying to give me, but I tell you I am onto
your little game. Go back to Mr. Dave Hicks and tell him I am going to
Devil Island. I have met him there once; tell him I shall be pleased to
meet him there again."

"But I do not want to go back to Mr. Hicks," protested the little man.
"I want to go to Devil Island with you."

"You can't go."

"I must. Young man, I will pay you any----"

"I do not want your pay. You came aboard by that boat. Get into it and
return ashore. If you are so anxious to get to Devil Island, you will
find plenty of fishermen who will set you on there if you pay them for
it."

"You are wrong. All the fishermen seem afraid to go near it. I tried
several of them this morning, and then the man with the broken nose and
the bent eye told me you were going down that way. That is why I am
here."

The little man in gray seemed very much in earnest now, but Frank had
made up his mind and was not to be turned.

"Get into that boat, sir," he commanded. "We can't take you to Devil
Island."

"You'll have to," said Mr. Cooler, stubbornly. "I am here, and I am
going with you."

"I rather think not," drawled Bruce Browning, who had been brought to
the deck at last by the sound of talk.

The big fellow picked the little man up by the collar, c