"Whether you own it or not, you are not going to take possession of
anything until after Mr. Stevenson gets here," answered Jack, as calmly
as he could. "I don't know anything about your claim. As far as I do
know, Mr. Stevenson is the owner of this place. He left us in charge
when he went away, and we are going to remain in charge until he gets
back."

"Huh! do you think we're going to stay out in this cold?" grumbled
Slugger.

"I don't care what you do," answered Jack. "You can't come into either
of these cabins--and that's final!"

"We'll see about that!" stormed Nappy, and advanced several steps.

"Get back there," ordered Jack sternly, and made a movement as if to
raise his rifle.

"Stop! Stop! Don't shoot!" yelled Asa Lemm, in sudden fright. "Keep
back, boys, or they'll certainly shoot at us!" and he began to retreat.

"Do you dare to threaten us?" questioned Slogwell Brown and the tone of
his voice showed his uneasiness. A glance over his shoulder had shown
him the other two boys at the doorway of the second cabin, and also
armed.

"I'm telling you to keep away from here--that's all," answered Jack.
"You can come back when Mr. Stevenson returns."

"I--I think maybe it would be better for us to retire," stammered
Professor Lemm. "We--er--don't want to run the risk of being shot. Those
boys are very hot-headed, and there is no telling what they might do if
we exasperated them."

"I'm not going to give in to a bunch of school boys!" stormed Slogwell
Brown, who, in his manner, was every bit as much of a bully as his son.

"But if they should shoot at us----"

"I don't think they've got the nerve to do it. They are only putting up
a big bluff."

"Don't you be too sure about that," put in Nappy, who was just as much
scared as was the professor. "Those Rover boys are game to do almost
anything when they are aroused."

"We've got to remember one thing," came from Slugger. "There are four of
them, and each of 'em has got a gun."

"I wish I had brought a gun along myself," said his crony.

"We should have armed ourselves," grumbled Slogwell Brown. "It was a
mistake to come over to this island without so much as a pistol. If I
only had some sort of a weapon, I'd show those boys a thing or two."

"Maybe we can get into the cabin by a back way," suggested Nappy.

"Say, that's an idea!" cried his crony. "And if we can do that, maybe
there's a gun or a pistol inside that we can use."

"You boys can take a