hey stared at Jack and
his cousins as if they could not believe the evidences of their senses.

"Well, what do you know about this!" burst out the former bully of Colby
Hall.

"All of those Rovers up here, and armed!" came from Nappy.

"Who gave you the right to come to this island?" went on the bully,
glaring at Jack.

"Do you know these boys?" queried the man who was with Professor Lemm.

"Sure, Dad, I know them! They are the Rover boys I told you about--the
fellows who helped to have me and Nappy sent away from school."

"Oh, so that's it!" cried Slogwell Brown. "Did you have any idea they
might be up here?" he questioned quickly.

"Not the least, Dad. I thought they were down in New York. Nappy said he
had seen them on the ice in Central Park."

"I did see them, too," answered the lad mentioned.

"Well, we didn't come here to see you Rovers," broke in Asa Lemm
stiffly. "Not but what I have an account to settle with you," he
continued significantly.

"We want nothing more to do with you, Professor Lemm," answered Jack
boldly.

"But I'm going to have something to do with you, young man!" stormed
the former teacher of the Hall, beginning to show his usual ill humor.

"Never mind these boys now, Lemm," interposed Slogwell Brown. "We want
to fix up our business with old Stevenson first."

"If you have anything to say to Mr. Stevenson, you'll have to come when
he is here," answered Jack.

"When do you expect him back?"

"I don't know exactly when he will come--probably before nightfall."

"Then, all we can do is to wait for him," grumbled Slogwell Brown.

"If we have to wait, we might as well go inside his cabin and do it,"
suggested Nappy. "It's too cold to stay out here."

"Yes, and I'm all tired out from wading through those snowdrifts," added
Slugger. He looked past Jack at the other Rover boys. "Had any luck
hunting?"

For the moment there was no reply. Then Randy stepped forward.

"I don't know as that is any of your business, Slugger," he replied
coldly.

"Oh, say! you needn't get on your high-horse," growled the bully. "What
Nappy and I ought to do is to pitch into you for having us fired out of
the Hall."

"You stay right where you are!" cried Fred.

"Humph! you think you've got the best of us with those guns, don't you?"
came from Nappy, who had ranged up beside Slugger.

"Never mind what we think," answered Andy. "If you know when you're well
off, you'll keep your distance."

"S