patiently.
"Will you return or not?"

"We will not."

"Very well. I wish every one here to understand that I have given you
an opportunity to return to your duty. You will not, and the
consequences be upon yourselves."

Mr. Parasyte walked up the path, followed by his party. As Pearl and
Poodles passed us, a suggestion was made that we seize upon them, and
punish them for the falsehoods they had uttered, and the meanness of
which they had been guilty; but this proposition was promptly
negatived by Vallington. We wondered what the invaders intended to do,
and whether our general purposed to let them proceed without
opposition. He stood calm and apparently unmoved on the stump,
watching the enemy.

The principal halted his forces at the point where our provisions and
cooking utensils were kept. Every eatable, and every utensil, even to
the wooden forks and spoons we had made, were seized and conveyed to
the steamer. It was now clear that the enemy did not mean to use
force, unless we attacked them. Mr. Parasyte intended to deprive us of
our food, and starve us into subjection. But he was not satisfied yet;
and when his party had deposited their burden on the deck of the
steamer, and the plank had again been hauled in, he marched them by us
once more.

"We shall soon see how long you will be willing to stay here," said
our tyrant, as he walked by the stump. "As Thornton said to the man in
charge of the boats at Cannondale, this morning, I suppose I have a
right to my own property, wherever I find it."

"We paid for the provisions with our own money," replied Vallington.

Mr. Parasyte made no reply, but continued on his way up the hill
towards the tents. These also he meant to take from us; and then, or
in the course of the day, he probably expected us to surrender,
without conditions. The prospect did not look pleasant, for we were to
be without food or shelter on the island. I was thinking how to save
the Splash from capture, and I was about to suggest to Vallington that
it would be better for me to put off in her, when our general spoke
for himself.

The invaders were busily employed in striking the tents, and rolling
up the canvas, about forty rods from where we stood. In a few moments
they would be ready to put them on board of the steamer.

"Fellows," said Vallington, in a low and decided tone, "our time has
come! We will take possession of that steamer. I have no idea of being
starved into subjection. Wh