LITMIR.BIZ

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you wake me up?" asked Sam in astonishment. "You didn't stay up all night, did you?"

      "Not much!" answered Tom, and spoke of the Canadian, whose name was Peglace.

      "Well, what's to do?"

      "I must confess I don't know. I suppose the Baxters and Captain Langless are on the search for us."

      "More than likely."

      "Then we had better lay low until some vessel comes to rescue us."

      "I don't think very many ships come this way."

      "Neither do I, but we won't despair. Come, I'm hungry again," and they stirred around to get breakfast.

      An examination showed that the Wellington was hard and fast in the mud, and likely to remain exactly as she stood for an indefinite time. Wading around in the water below, the Canadians reported several planks broken and wrenched loose, and that immediate repairs seemed out of the question.

      "Ze ship ees gone," said Peglace sadly. "We air like zat man, what-you-call-heem, Crusoe Robinson, hey?" And he shook his head.

      "Well, I hope we don't have to stay as long on this island as Robinson Crusoe remained on that other," remarked Sam. "Tom, I'm going for a walk on shore."

      "Can I go with you?" put in Josiah Crabtree humbly. "I am tired of this ship's deck."

      "All right, come on."

      "I will remain with Mrs. Stanhope," said Tom. "Don't go too far, Sam."

      Sam and the former teacher of Putnam Hall were soon over the side. The boy came down the plank easily enough, but Crabtree slipped and went into the water and mud up to his knees.

      "Ugh! I am always unfortunate!" he spluttered. "However, since the weather is warm, I don't think I'll suffer much."

      At a short distance up the beach there was a headland, covered with tall trees. Sam decided to make his way to this.

      "I'm going to climb the tallest of the trees and look around," he said. "You can go along, if you wish."

      "I will go, but I cannot climb the tree," answered Crabtree.

      To get to the headland they had to make a detour around a marshy spot and then climb over a number of rough rocks. The exertion exhausted Josiah Crabtree, and he soon fell behind.

      Reaching the headland, Sam gazed around anxiously. He could see a long distance to the north and the west, but not a sail was in sight.

      "The Peacock ought to be somewhere around here," he told himself, and then, coming to a tall tree with low, drooping branches, he began to climb to the top.

      It was a difficult task, for the tree was a thickly wooded one and a veritable monarch of the forest. But he persevered, and at last gained the topmost branch.

      Here the view of the island and its vicinity was much extended, and he could see not only the bay where the Peacock had been at anchor, but also several other harbors.

      "The Peacock is gone!" Such were the first words which escaped him. "She must have left the island altogether!"

      With anxious eye he turned his gaze to the other harbors, and suddenly gave a start.

      "A steam tug! How lucky!" He had discovered the Rocket, which was just getting up steam in order to follow the Peacock; the screw being now repaired and ready for use.

      As fast as he could he descended to the ground, his one thought being to tell Tom of his discovery, and to either get to the steam tug or to signal those on board, so that the tug might not leave the island without them. He had noticed the black smoke curling up from the stack, and knew that this betokened that steam was getting up.

      "Sam Rover!"

      The voice came from behind the rocks, like a bolt out of the clear sky. Then Dan Baxter rushed forward, followed by his father.

      Sam was taken off his guard, and before he could do anything the Baxters had him by both arms and were holding him a prisoner.

      "Let me go!"

      "Not much!" came from Arnold Baxter. "Where are your brothers — I mean," he added, in some confusion, "where is Tom?"

      "Find out for yourself, Arnold Baxter. Let me go, I say!" And Sam began to struggle.

      "Daniel Baxter, is it possible!" came in Josiah Crabtree's voice, and he emerged from the brushwood. "What an extraordinary meeting!"

      "I should say it was!" responded the bully. "Where did you spring from?"

      "Perhaps, Daniel, I can ask the same question."

      "Is Tom Rover with you?"

      "No, he is on a ship which is beached a short distance from here."

      "Alone?"

      "No, with some Canadians and — er — Mrs. Stanhope."

      "Oh, I see! the same old game," growled the bully. "Anybody else on the boat?"

      "No."

      "If that's the case we are in luck," came from Arnold Baxter. He gazed at Crabtree sharply. "Do you know where this lad came from?"

      "What do you mean?"

      "He and his brother Tom escaped from us. We brought them here."

      "What! I thought they had followed me and Mrs. Stanhope."

      "Hardly." Arnold Baxter proceeded to bind Sam's arms behind him. "Dan, take him to yonder tree and tie him fast." Then he walked away to talk to Josiah Crabtree.

      The conversation which followed lasted for quarter of an hour. What was said Sam could not make out. The boy wanted to get away, but was helpless, and now Dan Baxter took away the pistol with which he had provided himself. A little later the Baxters and Crabtree moved toward the wreck, leaving him bound to the tree, alone.

      CHAPTER XXVIII

       THE BAXTERS TALK IT OVER

       Table of Contents

      "Tom, we are in a fix."

      "So it would seem, Sam. Who ever dreamed of running across the Baxters in this fashion?"

      "We are in the hands of a trio of rascals now, for Crabtree is as bad as the others."

      "Perhaps, but he hasn't the nerve that Arnold Baxter has. What shall we do?"

      "Try to get free."

      "I can't budge an inch. Dan Baxter took especial delight in tying me up."

      "I can move one hand and if — It is free! Hurrah!"

      "Can you get the other hand free?"

      "I can try. The rope — that's free, too. Now for my legs."

      Sam Rover worked rapidly, and was soon as free as ever. Then he ran over to where Tom was tied up and liberated his brother.

      "Now, what shall we do?"

      "I move we go after the people on that steam tug and get them to help us rescue Mrs. Stanhope."

      "That's a good idea, and the quicker we go the better."

      Sam remembered very well in what direction he had seen the tug, and now set a straight course across the island to the cove.

      But the trail led over a hill and through a dense thicket, and long before the journey was half finished both lads were well-nigh exhausted.

      "We ought to have followed the shore around — we would have got there quicker," panted Tom, as he fairly cut his way through the dense brush wood.

      "I hope there are no wild animals here."

      "I doubt if there is anything very large on the island. If so, we would have seen

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