"W-Well, we d-didn't p-p-play any b-b-b-banjos then, b-by g-g- gum! I thought it w-was all up with us, and that we'd b-be d-d-d- dangling on the g-g-g-gallows b-b-before l-l-long! You s-see, they g-g-gained on us, at f-first. They r-rowed l-l-like fuf-fuf- fiends! B-But we b-began to d-draw ahead, and then the d-d-d-d- duffer with the pup-pitchfork--he was in the b-bow of the f-first b-boat--b-began to yell and b-b-bellow. He s-said that if we d-didn't s-stop he'd f-fill us f-full of b-b-b-b-b-bullets! S-Someone p-passed him up a g-g-gun, and when we saw that, I t-tell you, we d-dropped d-down in the b-bottom of the b-boat. S-Spike c-c-clung on to the wheel, and held her on her c-course, and we c-crouched down there, waiting for the old b-brute to b-b-blaze away. But he c-couldn't s-see us, and so there wasn't anyone for him to f-fire at. M-M-Maybe it was all b-b-bluff, b-but we didn't intend to s-stand up and t-try it, I t-tell you' After about t-ten minutes we p-p-peeked over the rail, and they were w-way b-back. They had g-given it up, and s-s-stopped r-rowing. P-Pretty s-soon, they t-turned around and went b-back. B-But we thought B-B- Bailey's Harbor was a p-pretty healthy p-place to k-k-k-keep away from!" "And we didn't find out until this morning," said Spike, "why they were after us. It wasn't for taking this boat at all. We sailed around on the Bay all night,--we didn't dare land. We stood watch- and-watch,--I'd sleep while Spook took the wheel, and then I sailed her while he had a nap. This morning we were off this island about seven o'clock and we met a lobsterman in his boat. We bought some lobsters of him and he gave us this paper." Spike pulled it out from under a seat and handed it to me. I still have that paper. It was the "Lanesport Herald" of the evening before,--Wednesday evening. There was an article on the front page headed "Capture Marauders!" Underneath, it went on: "Good Detective Work--Flanders Holds Crooks--Daring Escape." Then I read the article aloud: "A clever piece of detective work on the part of Constable Eben Flanders of Bailey's Harbor resulted in landing in jail the gang of miscreants who have been making a series of breaks on Little Duck Island and vicinity and terrorizing the neighborhood Tuesday night. The miscreants who are believed to be well-known crooks and are the same who perpetrated the breaks at the residence of Mrs. Sarah B. Ellis last Saturday night and at the residence of Dr. Horace Bigelow the well-known physician Monday night were apprehended in the act of pillaging the summer residence of T. Parker Littlefield, the prominent attorney of Boston.