Page:Young Hunters of the Lake.djvu/108

98 "Ha! do you call me a thief!" burst out the lumber dealer, in a rage.

"Not at all. I am only telling you a few plain facts. We have every reason to believe our boat is somewhere around this camp. If it is I want to know if you are going to give it up peaceably, or if we'll have to send down to town for an officer of the law?"

"You—you—" commenced Andrew Felps, and then looked at Giles Faswig, who had turned slightly pale.

"This may not be a serious business to you but it is to us," continued Snap. "There are four of us in our party, and if you have our boat, we can all testify to that fact. Three of us can stay here and watch you while the fourth goes for the officer."

"Do you think we'd steal a measly rowboat?" asked Vance Lemon, but he glanced at Faswig as he spoke, and his tone was an uneasy one.

"I don't know what you'd do. But that boy said something about bringing in a boat last night, and I want to know if it is our boat."

"How do I know whose boat it is?" growled Giles Faswig.

"Has it got the name Snapper on it?" asked Whopper.