suppose old Rover was to send the money in secret?"
"Certainly. I wrote him a long letter, telling him that if there was the least effort made to follow up the money on his part the lives of his sons should pay the forfeit."
"That's the way to put it, dad. I shouldn't wonder if old Rover sent the money on."
"I'd soon find out, if I could get to shore. If I had the money the boys could rot here, for all I care."
"Thank you for nothing," muttered Tom, under his breath. "Just you wait till I have a chance to square accounts, that's all!"
"Hush!" whispered Sam. "They must not discover us." And then Tom became silent again.
"Josiah Crabtree is in a fix, too," went on Dan, with something of a laugh. "He don't seem to know what to do."
"Where is Mrs. Stanhope's daughter?"
"I don't know. If Crabtree marries Mrs. Stanhope, it will break Dora all up."
"Well, that isn't our affair. But it is queer we should run together on this island. We can — What is that? A sail!"
Arnold Baxter leaped to his feet, and so did Dan. Tom and Sam also looked in the direction pointed out.
There was a sail, true enough, far out on the lake. All watched it with interest and saw it gradually grow larger. Evidently the craft was heading directly for the island.
"She is coming this way, dad!" almost shouted Dan.
"It looks so to me," replied Arnold Baxter, with increasing interest. "And she isn't the Peacock, either."
"No, she's a strange ship — a sloop, by her rig."
The Baxters watched the coming sail eagerly, and it must be confessed that the Rover boys were equally interested.
"If the folks on that boat are honest, they will surely help us against the Baxters," murmured Sam.
"Just what I was thinking," replied his brother.
At last the vessel was hear enough to be signaled, and, running to a high rock overlooking the water, Dan swung his hat and a handkerchief in the air.
At first the signals were not seen, but at last came a voice through a speaking trumpet.
"Ahoy, there!"
"Ahoy!" shouted Dan. "Come here! Come here!"
"What's the trouble?"
"We are wrecked. We want you to take us off."
"Wrecked?"
"Yes. Will you take us off?"
"Certainly."
Slowly, but surely, the sloop drew nearer. She was a fair-sized craft, and carried a crew of three. The men seemed to be nice fellows, and not at all of the Captain Langless class. Soon the sloop dropped anchor close in shore and the mainsail came down at the same time.
CHAPTER XXIX
DORA STANHOPE APPEARS
"So you have been shipwrecked?" said the master of the sloop, a young man of apparently twenty-five, whose name was Fairwell.
"Yes," answered Baxter senior.
"Your own boat, or some large vessel?"
"Our own boat. We were out on a little cruise when we struck something in the dark and our craft went down almost immediately. Fortunately we were not far from this shore, or we would have been drowned. Where are you bound?"
"Nowhere in particular. How long have you been on the island?"
"Since night before last?"
"All alone?"
"Yes."
"Had anything to eat?"
"Well — er — not much," stammered Arnold Baxter. "We found some wreckage with some bread and a few cans of sardines, but that is all."
Then I reckon you won't go back oh a square meal?" laughed Fairwell.
"Indeed I won't!" put in Dan, bound to say something.
"We would like to get back to the mainland as soon as possible," went on Arnold Baxter. "I am from Chicago, and must attend to some banking matters. My name is Larson — Henry Larson of State Street."
"Well, Mr. Larson, we'll get you to the main shore as soon as we can; that is, providing the lady who has hired this sloop is willing to go on without stopping here. I reckon this young man is your friend?"
"He is my son. And you are — ?"
"Randy Fairwell, at your service, sir. It's too bad you were wrecked, but you can be thankful your life was spared. Seen anybody around here since you've been ashore?"
"Not a soul."
"Nor any sail?"
"Nothing. It has been very, very lonesome," and Arnold Baxter shook his head hypocritically.
Tom and Sam listened to this talk with keen interest. Tom now nudged his brother.
"This has gone far enough," he whispered. "Those men seem all right and I'm sure will prove our friends. I'm going to show myself."
"Wait till the Baxters go on board," replied Sam. "Otherwise they may take it into their heads to run away again."
A few words more followed between those on the sloop and the Baxters, and then the latter ran on the deck of the sloop by means of a plank thrown out for that purpose.
Then Tom came forward, stick in hand, and Sam followed.
"Hold those men!" he cried. "Don't let them get away from you!"
Of course the men on the sloop were much astonished, both by the boys' sudden appearance and by the words which were spoken.
"What's that? " called out Randy Fairwell.
"Those Rover boys!" ejaculated Arnold Baxter, and his face turned white.
"I said, Hold those men!" repeated Tom. "Don't Let them get away from you."
"What for? Who are you?"
"Those fellows are rascals, and the father is an escaped prison-bird," put in Sam. "Hold them or they will run, sure."
"It's false," burst out Dan Baxter. "That fellow is crazy. I never saw him before."
"I guess they are both crazy," put in Arnold Baxter, taking the cue from his son. "Certainly
