CHAPTER XIX.
AN ASTONISHING DISCOVERY.
"Are you willing to help us to get away?" cried Sam.
"Under certain circumstances I am," replied the mate of the schooner. "Captain Langless didn't treat me square after you got away from me, and Andy Cadmus aint the tar to forget such a thing in a hurry."
"What are your conditions?" asked Tom.
"The conditions are two in number. In the first place, if I help you, will you promise, in case the plan falls through, that you will not tell Captain Langless what I did, but let him believe that you got away on your own hook?"
"We'll promise that readily enough," answered Tom, and Sam nodded.
"In the second place, if I get you away from them and see you to a place of safety, will you promise to help clear me in case those others are brought to trial?"
"We will," came from both.
