"Do you know who it was ran into you?"
"It was the _Falcon_, a yacht owned by a Mr. Fenwick. His son and
a man he called Bill Goss were aboard."
At this Martin Harris drew down his mouth. "A bad set, those. I
know 'em well."
"And we know, Fenwick, too," put in Dick, "He's a regular sneak."
"That's right--takes after his father, who did his best to
defraud me in a boat deal. And that Bill Goss is a sneak, too,
and worse," and Martin Harris shook his head decidedly.
"Well, we can't talk about those people now," said Dick. "We're
in a mess and must get out of it the best way we can. As you are
an old boatman, what would you advise us to do?"
"Come ashore with me and then get Dan Haskett to take your boat
in charge and fix her up. He can stop that leak somehow and pump
her out and have her all right inside of twenty-four hours."
"Where can we find this Haskett?"
"Come into my boat and I'll take you to him."
The rowboat was now close at hand, and one after another the
Rover boys stowed themselves away in the craft. Then Martin
Harris took up the oars and started for the river bank. He
turned down the stream a bit and landed them at an old dock over
which hung the sign: "Daniel Haskett, Boat Builder and Repairer
jobs Promptly Attended to--Charges Small."
Dan Haskett proved to be an elderly man, who was somewhat deaf,
and it took the boys some time to make him understand the
situation.
"We've had a smash-up," began Dick.
"Cash up?" said the deaf man. "Cash up for what?"
"We've had a smash-up!" repeated the boy in a louder tone. "We
want our boat mended."
"What's ended?" asked the boat builder. "Your boat?"
"Almost ended," roared Tom. "We--want--you--to--fix--up--our--boat,"
he yelled.
"Oh, all right. Where is she?"
Dick pointed with his finger, and at once the boat builder
understood. "There's a hole in her side," bawled the boy. "We
want it patched up."
"All right; I can do that."
"Can we have her by tomorrow?"
"How's that?" And Dan Haskett placed his hand to his ear.
"Can--we--have--her--by--tomorrow?" yelled Dick.
"I guess so. I'll have to see how badly she is damaged first."
Haskett got out a small boat of his own and, taking Dick with
him, rowed over to the wreck. He pronounced the injury small and
said the boys could have their boat by noon the next day. The
charges would be twelve or fifteen dollars.
"We'll be getting off cheaper than I thought," said Tom, on
Dick's return. "Ought to come out of Mumps' pocket."
"That's so," added Sam. "By the way, I wonder what he meant by
saying we were dogging him?"
"I can't say," replied Dick. "But I've been thinking that he
can't be up to any good, or he wouldn't be so suspicious."
"Just exactly my idea!" burst out Tom. "Do you know what I half
imagine?"
"Well?"
"That Mumps is cruising around waiting for Dan Baxter to join
him."
"But Baxter went to Chicago."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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