"I haven't found out yet. I don't think they had time to do much harm."

"What makes you think they wanted to harm the boat anyway?" asked Grant.

"Huh," said Sam, turning abruptly upon the speaker. "What else could they want here?"

"I don't know that they would want anything," said Grant quietly. "When you have made up your mind that somebody is trying to put the Black Growler out of business it is easy for you to believe that everything is working for that one thing."

"You don't know as much as you might," said Sam tartly.

"By which you mean?" inquired Grant.

"By which I mean just this," responded Sam warmly. "The people that own the Varmint II are a tough crowd. They are some young fellows that have got more money than they have sense."

"More dollars than cents, you mean, don't you?" interrupted George.

"That's what I said," retorted Sam. "They are betting all sorts of money on their boat. From what I heard over at the Bay they have staked more money than you would believe on their boat winning the race."

"Who told you about it?" inquired Fred.

"Never you mind that," said Sam. "I know and that's enough. Now, if they've got so much staked they wouldn't feel so very bad, would they, if anything happened to the Growler? It seems she's the only boat they are afraid of anyway, and if she isn't in the race why the Varmint II will just walk away with the cup."

"And do you really think," inquired Fred, "that they will try to damage our boat so that she can't be in the race?"

"I'm not saying THEY will," answered Sam, "but somebody might. Perhaps they wouldn't know anything about it."

"Do you think those men who were here to-night came to do that?"

"I'm suspicious," said Sam, "but I don't know yet how much damage they did. I called you because I thought I might need your help. There isn't anything more you can do now and you might as well go back to bed."

With the coming of the day most of the fears and anxieties of the boys departed. The alarm of Sam the preceding night appeared very differently now and they even were inclined to laugh at him for his fears. Sam, however, had fallen once more into one of his periods of silence and made no comment on the remarks of the Go Ahead boys.

"I'm going over to the Bay now," said Sam when the boys after breakfast approached the dock.

"Are you going in the motor-boat?" inquired Fred.

"Yes, sir."

"How long will you be there?"

"I don't know. Probably an hour."

"Then we'll go over with you," answered Fred. "Perhaps we'll find one of these fellows who were trying to blow up the Black Growler last night." "I'm not saying they were trying to blow her up," retorted Sam.

"You don't have to blow up a boat to put it out of commission, do you?

Her machinery is so fine that it wouldn't take very much damage to one part to throw the whole thing out of gear."

"That's true," said George, "but I don't believe, Sam, that there's need for our being scared. Probably those two men you saw last night were just stopping on their way back to the Bay from some of the islands."

Sam shook his head and although he did not speak, his action implied that the Go Ahead boys might soon be wiser than they were at that time.

Nor was his suspicion misplaced. Not many hours had elapsed before they were almost as strong as Sam in their belief that the Black Growler was not only an object of dislike, but also that there was a real peril that she might be so injured that it would be impossible for her to enter the race.

CHAPTER XXII

A COLLISION

In a brief time the Black Growler was fast to one of the side-docks and the party prepared to disembark.

"I'm not going to leave that boat without somebody stayin' on board,"

a.s.serted Sam positively, when he was aware that the Go Ahead boys were all planning to accompany him.

"What are you afraid of?" inquired George. "There's some one around here all the time and no one could do any damage without being seen."

"It doesn't make any difference," a.s.serted Sam. "A man might drop sand into the bearings or grease cups or do some other mean trick and n.o.body ever see him."

"All right, then," laughed George, "I'll be the goat. I'll stay here while you're gone. I guess I shan't be lonesome," he added with a laugh as he glanced at the increasing a.s.sembly which already had been drawn to the dock to gaze at the beautiful little motor-boat.

Soon after the departure of his friends, George seated himself in the stern of the boat and did his utmost to appear indifferent to the admiring glances and words of approval which now were coming from the spectators.

He had secured a copy of the morning paper and was pretending to be interested in the news he was reading.

Suddenly he partly dropped the paper as in the crowd he discovered the ca.n.a.l-man, who had demanded their bond at Cape Vincent. For some reason which George was unable to understand he did not advance to the boat, preferring to remain on the outskirts of the little a.s.sembly. The fact, however, that the man was there was in itself somewhat startling.

Still pretending to be interested in his paper, George did his utmost to follow the actions of the man whom he had discovered, but not many minutes had elapsed before he departed from the dock.

When his friends returned the strange man had not come back.

"Did anything happen?" inquired Fred eagerly as he stepped on board.

"What did you think was going to happen?" answered George somewhat evasively.

"I didn't think anything was," laughed Fred. "Sam is the only one who is worried."

"Well, he has some right to be worried, I guess," said George slowly.

"Why, what's wrong? What happened?" demanded Fred excitedly.

"Are you ready to explain what you did with that bond that belongs to the Go Ahead boys?" asked George slowly.

"No, sir, I'm not."

"Then you'll not be interested in the fact that the man who wanted it came down here to the dock while you were gone."

"He did? He did?" exclaimed Fred so eagerly that his friends all laughed. "What did he want?"

"That, sir, I can't explain to you at this time," answered George, striving to mimic the tones and manner of his friend. "It's difficult for me to tell the whole story unless I know what you all have to say."

"I have nothing to say," retorted Fred.