As they worked, the brothers conversed in low, angry tones. They were furious at the boys for finding treasure that afternoon, and so setting the scene for a big treasure hunt.

Bob gathered they had planned to wait quietly, not going near their hidden loot until it was perfectly safe. But the prospect of the island swarming with treasure seekers had forced them to take immediate action, despite the risks.

"There!" Bill Ballinger said finally. "These two little eels aren't going to give us the slip now! Come on, Jim, let's get the cash. We've lost too much time as it is."

The two men climbed out of the boat.

On sh.o.r.e, Jim Ballinger said in a low voice, "You stay here, Tom, and keep an eye on the boat. Give an owl hoot if you need to warn us."

"What are you going to do with them?" the boys heard the guard ask uneasily.

"They'll talk, they'll implicate me "

One of the Ballingers laughed in an ugly tone. "They won't talk," he said. "We're taking them with us. Never mind what we plan. But after we're gone you turn their rowing-boat over and shove it out into the bay. Tomorrow it'll be found floating and folks will think they overturned and got carried out to sea."

"Well okay. I guess that's how it has to be," the guard answered. Then there was silence as the footsteps of the two Ballingers faded away.

They heard Tom Farraday muttering to himself. "So that's why all their friends and relatives gave out phony stories about seeing the ghost! So no one would come prowling round this island! If I had only guessed I could have had all the money to myself!"

Bob lay on his side next to Pete. He tried to speak but could manage only a m.u.f.fled sound. His fingers strained to reach the knots that bound his wrists, and then gave up.

Something Very Unexpected

THEY WERE in a real jam, Bob thought glumly. Just about the worst jam they could have got into. Jupiter had guessed correctly that the armoured car money was hidden on Skeleton Island. But he hadn't guessed that Tom Farraday was in with the men who had stolen it, and he hadn't figured that the Ballingers would be coming to get it tonight because of the big treasure hunt the next day.

Bob wouldn't let himself think of what would happen next.

He lay still and listened to the tiny ripples of water breaking against the stern of the motorboat. Then a bigger ripple made the boat bob up and down a bit. Bob opened his eyes and saw a dark figure slipping on board over the stern.

The figure was crouched down so that Tom Farraday, on sh.o.r.e, could not see him.

He started crawling carefully past the engine towards the two boys.

For a moment all Bob could hear was the sound of breathing. Then a low whisper reached his ears.

"Hi!" it said. "Don't be afraid. It's just me, Chris."

Chris! How in the world could Chris be here? Chris was in jail!

"I untie you," Chris whispered in his ear. "You hold very still."

Bob could feel Chris working at the fishing-line that was wound round him, then at the strips of shirt that tied his wrists and gagged him. It seemed like hours that the Greek boy struggled with Bill Ballinger's knots but then he was free, cautiously stretching his cramped arms and legs.

"Chris " he started to whisper.

"Shhh!" the Greek boy hushed him. "Slip back to stern, be ready to slide into water.

I get Pete free."

On hands and knees Bob crawled to the stern. He wrenched off his sneakers. If they had to swim, he didn't want anything weighing him down.

A few moments later, making hardly a sound, Pete and Chris joined him.

"Over the stern!" Chris whispered. "Hold on to rudder."

There were about a million questions Bob wanted to ask, but they would have to wait. He eased himself down into the water, followed by Pete.

"Gosh!" Pete gasped in his ear. "Where did he come from?"

"I don't know, but I'm sure glad he came," Bob whispered back fervently.

Chris slid like an eel into the dark water. "Now we swim," he said. "If you swim on your side, make no splash. Follow me."

Without a ripple, he moved away, following the sh.o.r.eline. Bob swam after him, wishing he had taken off his trousers and jacket as well as his sneakers.

They swam silently, their heads close to the dark water. After about ten minutes, they rounded a tiny point of land and were out of sight of the boat and Tom Farraday.

Now Chris led them ash.o.r.e. They followed him to a spot where the scrub trees came down near the water. Chris got down low and wriggled up until he could peer between two boulders. Following his lead, Pete and Bob found they could see, very dimly, the shape of the motorboat about three hundred feet away.

"Now we can talk if we keep voices low," Chris said. "They do not find us here."

"How did you get here?" both boys asked together. Chris chuckled. In whispers, he told them. Chief Nostigon had returned to the jail that afternoon pretty well convinced of Chris's innocence. He had managed to find the judge and the judge had set fifty dollars bail for Chris, which Chief Nostigon himself had put up. Then, after giving Chris a good dinner, he had turned him loose.

"I go home," Chris said. "I find my father pretty good. Neighbour lady looks after him. But I start to think. How does my knife get at scene of robbery on island?

Somebody put it there, that's how, after I lose it. But where did I lose it? Then I think, I must have lost it in front of the cave yesterday when I have fun with you. Only person around to find it is Tom Farraday. I think Tom Farraday finds my knife and plants it at scene of robbery to make me look like a thief. Tom Farraday is up to something.

"I decide to watch Tom Farraday. Borrow boat from friend of my father's and row out after dark very quiet."

Chris had watched Tom Farraday set out on his nightly patrol of the island, and had seen him stop where the motorboat was now beached, and flash his flashlight three times. The Ballinger brothers had paddled their boat in and come ash.o.r.e. Then the noise of Pete and Bob rowing to the island had reached them.

"You do not row so good, Pete," Chris chuckled. "Make a splash. Ballinger fellows hide, Tom Farraday meets you and leads you into trap. I do not know what to do.

Maybe I should go to camp, get men, but I think, suppose they do not believe me?

Suppose they think I'm back to steal some more? Maybe I better stick around, see if I can help you.

"I see you put in boat and Ballingers go up to cave. I slip into the water, come and untie you. Now we watch the fun."

"You were great, Chris!" Pete said. "But what do you mean, watch the fun?"

"Shhh, Ballingers come back. Watch!" Chris whispered.

Dimly they could see the dark shapes of the Ballinger brothers join Tom Farraday.

Each of them carried two big sacks across his shoulders.

"Everything all right?" Bill Ballinger asked, his voice coming clearly across the water.

"Everything's fine," Tom Farraday answered. "Listen, I want my share of the money now."

"You'll get it when we're ready," the other man growled. "Come on, Bill dump the cash in the boat and let's get going."

They shoved past the guard and dumped their sacks into the beached motorboat.

"The kids! They're gone!" Bill Ballinger shouted. "Tom, you cut them loose!"

"I did not!" the guard answered angrily. "They can't be gone!"

He flashed his light into the boat and saw the fishing-line that had bound Pete and Bob.

"They are are gone!" he said, sounding bewildered. "But they couldn't be! Not right under my nose!" gone!" he said, sounding bewildered. "But they couldn't be! Not right under my nose!"

"They're gone, and we're getting out of here!" Jim Ballinger growled. "Get in, Bill!"

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"But what about me?" Tom Farraday objected. "For ten years I've been waiting for my share of the money. Ten years! Even if I got all of it, it wouldn't pay me for the arm you crippled. And besides, if those kids are free, they'll blab and I'll go to jail! "

"That's your problem," Jim Ballinger retorted brutally. "There's a tramp freighter waiting for us, and it's sailing for South America. Shove off, Bill."

Bill Ballinger pushed the motorboat out into the water and hopped on board. Jim Ballinger pressed the starter b.u.t.ton. The starter whirred but the motor did not catch. He tried again, but nothing happened.

"The motor!" Jim Ballinger exclaimed, a note of fear in his voice. "It won't start!

Tom, what did you do to the motor?"

"Not a thing," called back the guard. "But I'm glad it conked out. I only wish I could get my hands on you!"

"Keep trying, Jim!" the other Ballinger urged. "We've got to get going. We have to get out of here!"

Again and again they pressed the starter, but the motor refused to catch.

Chris chuckled with merriment.

"I pull wires off spark plugs," he said. "I fix them. They will not go any place. Now we go get men from camp and they take care of these fellows."

But before the three boys could move, they heard the sound of motors roaring towards the island. Two boats came racing towards them, searchlights stabbing through the darkness.

The Ballingers acted with panicky speed. Using oars as paddles, they moved the motorboat close to the sh.o.r.e. They leaped out and started running, directly towards the hidden boys.

Chris stood up.

"We stop them!" he yelled excitedly.

"They do not get away!"

Chris picked up a length of driftwood and scrambled behind a big rock. As the first of the fleeing criminals came opposite him, Chris thrust out the stick and Jim Ballinger went sprawling on the beach.

Bill Ballinger tripped over him and fell, too. Chris pounced on them like a small whirlwind.

"You get me put in jail!" he shouted.

"You make people think I am thief! I show you!"

He wrapped his arms round Jim Ballinger, preventing him from rising. Bill Ballinger hauled Chris off and threw him to one side. He fell against Bob and Pete, who were just coming to his aid.

But as the three boys sprawled on the ground, another element entered the fight.

Tom Farraday came charging up and hurled himself at the two Ballingers. All three went down in a furiously fighting ma.s.s.

"Cheat me out of my share, will you!" the guard was shouting. "Leave me to face the music alone!"

Despite his disabled arm, Tom Farraday was as strong as a bull. The Ballingers could not get away from him. The three men rolled down the beach and into the water with a great splash. After a few moments of frenzied struggle, Tom Farraday had forced the Ballingers' heads beneath the water. They went limp.

"Let them up!" a voice roared. "You'll drown them!"

The boys had been so engrossed in the fight they had not seen the two boats run up on the beach a few feet away. Several men leaped ash.o.r.e. Chief of Police Nostigon played the beam of a powerful flashlight on the three men in the water. In his other hand he held a revolver.

"Let them up, Tom, you hear me?" he shouted again.

But the guard seemed intent on drowning his two accomplices. It took four men to pull him loose from Bill and Jim Ballinger, who were hauled out of the water gasping weakly for breath.

When all three men had been handcuffed, Chief Nostigon flashed his light round and saw Chris, Pete and Bob.

"Well, you boys are all right, praises be!" Chief Nostigon said. "But Chris, how the d.i.c.kens do you happen to be here?"

"He saved us and kept the Ballingers from escaping, Chief," Bob said quickly. "But golly, how did you get here? Did you guess the Ballingers would be coming after their hidden money tonight?"

"I'm afraid not," Chief Nostigon said. "I never dreamed they'd stashed away their holdup loot on Skeleton Island. You can thank your friend Jupiter Jones. He came down to the police station about forty minutes ago with a wild tale about hidden money and the Ballingers probably going after it tonight because tomorrow would be too late.