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256 "They're the same fellows who, under the misdirected ideas of your Uncle Ezra, tried once before to kidnap you," said the captain. "Locked up in the brig are Sam Newton and Ike Murdock, and with them are two young acquaintances of yours—Guy Fletcher and Simon Scardale!"

"Well, wouldn't that jar you!" exclaimed Dick, weakly. "I never suspected they had my yacht. And Uncle Ezra, too! Well, it's been a series of wonders all the way along! But is the yacht damaged?"

"Not a bit, only those fellows didn't know how to sail her. Ike and Sam brought some of their crew aboard, and I've got them in irons, too, though they aren't really to blame, as they only did what they were hired to do. Now for explanations."

They were soon briefly told. Beginning from the time when he cast anchor in the little bay, off Stone Island, and Dick and his chums went ashore in the launch, Captain Barton told of the capture of his vessel. He and his crew suspected nothing when they saw the yacht's launch approaching, and it was not until Newton and Murdock, in company with a number of lusty and savage men, had gained the deck, and attacked Captain Barton and his crew, that any hint of foul play was suspected. Taken unawares, the commander of the Albatross and his men could do little. They were locked up below, and what happened after that they learned from time to time.