Not to be defeated so easily, however, they resolved, on the spur of the moment, to lay claim to the yacht, especially as they saw no boat of any description anchored anywhere in the Thoroughfare. They would take possession of the _Surprise_ and, if it should prove that a party of the campers had raised her,—and not any of the villagers,—they would swear that they themselves had found her in shoal water and had dragged her out. As to the future possession of her, they would trust to the squire to fight a lawsuit, if necessary, to retain her. It was a lonely place, down there in the Thoroughfare, and there could be no outside witnesses. Therefore, before the sun was up, they had rowed ashore and begun work upon the yacht. They began differently, however, than the boys had done. They realized that the first thing for their purpose was to get the _Surprise_ afloat. Once in possession of the yacht, afloat and towed back to harbour, whoever should claim it then might have trouble in making their claim good. John Hart was something of a shipwright in a small way, and they had brought carpenter’s and calking tools along. They, in turn, busily engaged at their work, were taken by surprise all of a sudden at the appearance of Joe Hinman and his crew, tearing down upon them, half-dressed, and their eyes wide with amazement and indignation. “Here, that’s our boat,” cried Joe, rushing up to them, panting for breath. “You’ve got no right to touch it. We raised it.” John Hart, with sleeves rolled up, displaying a pair of brawny arms, looked at the crew sneeringly. They were certainly not formidable as against himself and his two comrades, to say nothing of young Harry Brackett. “You raised it!” he exclaimed, roughly. “That’s a likely story. What did you raise her with—your hands? You’re a fine wrecking-crew. Why, we had this boat out on shore two days ago. What are you interfering with us for?” “Now, see here,” said Joe Hinman, “that won’t work, so you better not try it. There are too many on our side.” And he narrated, rapidly, the history of the raising of the _Surprise_ by the Warrens and Henry Burns and Harvey and himself and crew. John Hart and his comrades seemed a bit nonplussed at this. It did put a different phase upon the matter. They looked at one another inquiringly for a moment. But they were rough fellows, not given to weighing evidence critically. Might was right with them if it could be carried through. “That’s a lie!” exclaimed John Hart, suddenly, advancing toward Joe Hinman. “You think you can fool us with your city ways, but you’d better look out. Where are all these fine youngsters that you say raised the boat? This boat is ours, because we saved her. You get out and don’t come around bothering, because we won’t stand any nonsense.” There was no present hope for Joe and his crew. They were clearly outmatched. They withdrew, therefore, to the shed, cooked their breakfast and ate it with diminished appetites.