Page:The Secret of the Old Mill.pdf/132

124 boat bore swiftly down upon him. The engine of the Sleuth had died.

As the other craft drew alongside, Paul Blum cast aside the oar in admission of defeat. He sat sullenly in the boat without looking up.

"Too bad, Blum!" shouted Frank. "We're going to take you back with us."

"I'd have been all right if it hadn't been for the confounded gas running out," gritted the man.

"We weren't so particular about getting you as we were about getting back our boat," said Joe. "Will you come back quietly?"

Paul Blum shrugged his shoulders.

"I suppose I might as well," he said. "I haven't any weapons. If I had, you may depend on it, I'd put up a fight."

"Just as glad you haven't, then," remarked Tony cheerfully. Carefully, he brought the boat alongside the Sleuth and Frank and Joe jumped over the side into their own craft.

Paul Blum was resigned. He submitted to having his wrists bound with a piece of stout rope that the boys found on the stern of the boat, and then he sat down philosophically.

"I'll get away yet," he told them. "If I can't escape from that jail myself, my friends will see that I get out."

"How will we get back?" asked Frank, turning to Tony.