there came a man's voice.

"Right here, Judson; here's the landing place. Are you alone?"

"No, my son is with me," came the reply, "but for heaven's sake, man,
not so loud."

"There's no one within half a mile of this place. I came down through
the grounds and they were deserted."

"Humph, but still it's as well to be careful. One never knows what spies
are about," came the reply.

The boys, nudging each other with excitement, heard the bow of the boat
scrape on the shingly beach and then came the crunch of footsteps.

"They are coming up the steps," whispered Jack in low, excited tones.

"That's right, so they are," breathed Billy cautiously. "Let's get
behind the trees and learn what is going on."

"It's something crooked, that's sure," whispered Noddy.

"I begin to think so myself," agreed Jack, "but that man's voice, as
well as his figure, seemed familiar to me when he hailed Judson, but I
can't, for the life of me, think where I heard his voice before."

The three lads lost no time in concealing themselves behind some
ornamental bushes in the immediate vicinity. They were none too soon,
for hardly had they done so when the figures of two men and a boy
appeared at the top of the steps.

"Phew," panted Judson, "I'm not as young as I was. That climb has made
me feel my age. Let's sit down here."

"Very well, that bench yonder will be just the place," agreed the man
the boys had followed, and who had seemed so oddly familiar to Jack.

The seat they had selected could hardly have been a better one for the
boys' purpose. It was placed right against the bush behind which they
were hiding. The voices came to them clearly, although the speakers took
pains to modify them.

"Well, I've been waiting for you," came in the voice of the man the boys
had instinctively followed.

"We'd have got here sooner, but were delayed by an accident, or rather a
sort of accident on purpose that occurred this afternoon. I was glad to
see that you hadn't forgotten our night signal code," said Judson.

"What was the accident?" asked the man, who was a stranger to the boys,
who were listening intently.

"Oh, just three brats who are summering here," scoffed Donald Judson.
"They appeared to think they owned the bay, and I guess it was up to me
to show them they didn't. I guess Jack Ready will be on the market for
another boat before long and----"

"Hold on, hold on," exclaimed the strange man. "What was that name?"

"Ready,