"Wait till the Baxters go on board," replied Sam. "Otherwise they may take it into their heads to run away again."
A few words more followed between those on the sloop and the Baxters, and then the latter ran on the deck of the sloop by means of a plank thrown out for that purpose.
Then Tom came forward, stick in hand, and Sam followed.
"Hold those men!" he cried. "Don't let them get away from you!"
Of course the men on the sloop were much astonished, both by the boys' sudden appearance and by the words which were spoken.
"What's that? " called out Randy Fairwell.
"Those Rover boys!" ejaculated Arnold Baxter, and his face turned white.
"I said, Hold those men!" repeated Tom. "Don't Let them get away from you."
"What for? Who are you?"
"Those fellows are rascals, and the father is an escaped prison-bird," put in Sam. "Hold them or they will run, sure."
"It's false," burst out Dan Baxter. "That fellow is crazy. I never saw him before."
"I guess they are both crazy," put in Arnold Baxter, taking the cue from his son. "Certainly I never set eyes on them before."
