They walked to the spot where the people were to come in, and there learned that the steamer had sent its pa.s.sengers ash.o.r.e an hour before.
A few were at the dock, taking care of some baggage which had been detained by the custom house officials.
"Well, I never!" exclaimed Tom. "If there isn"t Peter Slade! What can he be doing here?"
Peter Slade had once been a pupil at Putnam Hall. He had been something of a bully, although not as bad as Tad Sobber. The boys had often played tricks on him and once Peter had gotten so angry he had left the school and never come back.
"Let us go and speak to him," said Sam.
"Maybe he won"t speak, Sam. He was awful angry at us when he left the Hall."
"If he doesn"t want to speak he can do the other thing," said the youngest Rover. "Perhaps he"ll be glad to meet somebody in this out-of-the-way place."
They walked over to where Peter Slade stood and both spoke at once. The other lad was startled at first and then he scowled.
"Humph! you down here?" he said, shortly.
"Yes," answered Tom, pleasantly enough. "Did you just get in on the steamer?"
"I don"t know as that is any of your business, Tom Rover!"
"It isn"t, and if you don"t want to speak civilly, Slade, you haven"t got to speak at all," said Tom, and started to move away, followed by his brother.
"Say, did you meet Tad Sobber and his un----" And then Peter Slade stopped short in some confusion.
"Did we meet who?" demanded Tom, wheeling around in some astonishment.
"Never mind," growled Peter Slade.
"Were they on the steamer?" asked Sam.
"I"m not saying anything about it."
"Look here, Slade, if they were on the steamer we want to know it,"
came from Tom.
"Really?" and the former bully of the Hall put as much of a sneer as possible into the word.
"We do, and you have got to tell us."
"I don"t see why."
"You will if you are honest," said Sam. "You know as well as I do that Tad Sobber"s uncle is a rascal and ought to be in prison."
"Tad says it isn"t so--that his uncle didn"t take those bonds--that they were placed in his care to be sold at a profit, if possible."
"When did Tad tell you that?"
"Only a couple of days ago--I mean he told me, and that"s enough."
"Then he told you while you were on the steamer," put in Tom.
"Yes, if you must know." Peter Slade"s face took on a cunning look. "I guess Mr. Merrick and Tad will trim you good and proper soon."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Oh, I know a thing or two."
"Did they tell you what had brought them down here?"
"Maybe they did."
"Who was with them?"
"You had better ask them."
"Where are they?"
"That"s for you to find out."
"See here, Slade, this is no way to talk," went on Tom earnestly. "If you know anything about Sid Merrick and his plans you had better tell us about them. If you don"t I shall take it for granted that you are in league with that rascal and act accordingly."
"Yes, and that may mean arrest for you," added Sam.
Peter Slade was a coward at heart, and these suggestive words made him turn pale.
"I am not in league with them," he cried hastily. "I met them on the steamer by accident. Tad told me he and his uncle were going to get the best of you, but how he didn"t say."
"Who was with them, come, out with it."
"A Spaniard named Doranez."
"Doranez!" cried both the Rover boys and looked suggestively at each other.
"Yes, do you know him?"
"We know of him," answered Tom slowly. "Where did they go?"
"I don"t know exactly."
"Don"t you know at all?"
"They were going to look for some tramp steamer that was to be here. If they found her they were going to sail at once to some other island,"
answered Peter Slade.
CHAPTER XVIII