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228 Stanhope and her abductors. I guess you are old enough to know what the punishment is for abduction," went on Dick, pointedly.

"Abduction? I ain't abducted nobody, I tell you. You've got hold of the wrong boat. You can search us if you want to."

"Oh, I don't suppose the lady is on board now, I want to know what you did with her."

"Don't know her—never saw her."

"You took her on board, and you were seen doing it," put in Tom.

"Seen!" cried the captain, and gave a start.

"Yes," put in Sam. "Oh, we've got you dead to rights, and the best thing you can do is to tell us at once where she is."

"Say," said the master of the schooner, slowly and thoughtfully. "You tell me the particulars of this matter and maybe I can put you on the track of something. I never heard of any lady being abducted." He saw that he was cornered and that if arrested matters might go very hard with him.

In a few words Dick and his brothers told about how the Stanhope fortune had been stolen and how the lady herself had been abducted and taken to Boston. Then they said they had positive proof that the lady had been taken aboard the Mary Delaway.