That evening, the Hardy boys and their chums were gathered around the fire. Chet and Joe were playing checkers. Biff had rigged up the punching bag, had donned his boxing gloves, and was making the bag drum in a lively manner. Frank was still studying the cipher, wondering if there might not be some little clue he had missed. Once in a while he referred to the pages of the notebook again.
It was growing colder outside and the boys had to keep a roaring fire in order that the cabin should be warm enough. The wind was rising and there were fitful slashes of snow against the windows.
“More dirty weather!” growled Biff, dealing a particularly vicious blow at the punching bag.
“Seems it’s done nothing but snow since we came here,” said Chet.
“It’s your move,” Joe reminded him.
Chet moved his checker and Joe promptly captured it, with a king as well.
The scene was peaceful. The boys would have been interested if they had known of what was happening in a little house in Bayport just then.
Hanleigh was preparing to return to Cabin Island.
XX
When Rogues Fall Out
Hanleigh, who had taken up his quarters in a small bungalow at the eastern limits of Bayport, had made an appointment for that evening with Tad Carson and Ike Nash, the two youths who had taken him to Cabin Island in their iceboat on the occasion of his first meeting with the Hardy boys.
An alarm clock ticking on the kitchen table showed the hour as eight o’clock. Hanleigh, listening to the rising wind, made a gesture of impatience.
“What’s the matter with them?” he growled. “Can’t they ever get here when I tell them?”
He was obliged to wait another ten minutes before the door of the bungalow opened, and Ike Nash slouched in, followed by his companion.
They tossed their caps on the table and nodded coolly to Hanleigh.
“I thought I told you to be here at half-past seven!”
Tad Carson shrugged.
“That’s the time you told us, all right. We just couldn’t make it.”
“Keep me cooling my heels while you shoot another game of pool, I suppose!” snapped the man.
“You haven’t anything else to do,” replied Nash. He sat down and put his feet on the table. “Well, what’s it all about?”
“I want to go over to the island tomorrow.”
“What island?” asked Tad Carson.
“What island do you think? The island, of course. Cabin Island. I want to go there early tomorrow morning.”
“What’s stopping you?” asked Nash insolently.
“Well, you know why I sent for you? I can’t walk there.”
The two youths glanced at one another.
“I suppose you want us to take you over in the iceboat again, eh?”
“Of course. I want you to call here for me at seven o’clock in the morning. Have the iceboat ready so we can make a quick start.”
“You’re giving orders tonight, ain’t you, Hanleigh?” said Ike. “What if it doesn’t suit us to go?”
“Why shouldn’t it suit you? Neither of you is working.”
“That’s all right. Tad and I were just talking it over as we came up here tonight. We’d like to know more about this business. Hanleigh. We have an idea there may be something crooked about it.”
Hanleigh stared at them incredulously. That these allies should be inclined to back out had never entered his calculations.
“Crooked!” he exclaimed. “Of course not. I’m thinking of buying the island and naturally I want to look the place over before I make an offer.”
“Yes? Why don’t you wait until summer? The winter is no time of year to inspect an island.”
Hanleigh became angry.
“Will you two mind your own business!” he blustered. “Is it any concern of yours why I want to go to the island? I pay you well for carrying me there, and all you have to do is keep your mouths shut.”
“We won’t keep ’em shut,” remarked Nash, “unless we get more money than you have been giving us.”
“I’ve been paying you very well, I think. Ten dollars each is very good money for a trip that most boys would be glad to take just for the fun of it.”
“We don’t run the iceboat just for our health,” said Carson. “Every time we go there we have to hang around and freeze until you are ready to come back. You won’t even let us go up to the cabin with you. I’d like to know what there is about that place that interests you so much.”
Hanleigh gazed at them narrowly. So! They were beginning to suspect him!
“I’ve told you,” he said irritably. “I may buy the place, and naturally I want to look the cabin over.”
“Well, there wouldn’t be any harm in letting us look it over too. Listen, Mr. Hanleigh—you’re up to something, and we know it. If you don’t want us to go to Mr. Jefferson and tell him about your visits to the island, you had better kick in with some more money.” Tad Carson sat back and winked at his companion.
Hanleigh was almost speechless with wrath.
“Why—why—you young scoundrels!” he spluttered. “This is blackmail. Why, it’s a holdup!”
“Call it what you like!” sneered Nash.
“You can’t tell Jefferson anything. I have his full permission to go to the island at any time I want.”
“Is that so? Now, look here, Mr. Hanleigh—you’ve been trying to tell us that you may buy the island. Now, we happen to know that you made Mr. Jefferson an offer for the island and he told you he wouldn’t sell at any price. How about that?”
“It’s—it’s false.”
“It’s the truth,” said Nash.
“Who told you?” demanded Hanleigh.
“Never mind who told us. We know more about you than you think. Now, if you are up to any funny business, we won’t put anything in your way, as long as you come through and treat us fair.”
“I have treated you fairly. I have always paid you well.”
“Ten dollars a trip,” laughed Tad Carson. “That’s all
