The moment Sam disappeared the fisher-boy struck out for the cave, intent upon getting close enough to it to see what was going on inside, and to overhear the conversation carried on between its occupants.
The entrance had been so carefully concealed that not a ray of light could be seen; but he had noted the exact position of the cave; and, besides, he was guided by the loud barking of a dog, which refused to keep silent, in spite of a severe beating somebody was giving him. The noise led Bob directly to the cave, and when he crawled out on the bank and listened a moment at the door, he found, to his joy, that he could distinctly hear every word that was said.
"Kill him, Friday!" he heard the bully exclaim, probably addressing himself to the person who was beating the dog. "Make him hush that noise, or the first thing we know we'll have visitors. Stand back a little out of his sight, Tommy. You're a stranger to him and he don't like your looks!"
"Are you not afraid that some one will hear him?" asked Tom.
"That's not likely, unless that ar Bobby Jennings, or Mr. Grimes, is on the watch. Will Atkins, are you sartin an' sure that you see Bob go home?"
"Am I sartin an' sure that I've got a pair of eyes?" asked Atkins. "I know that he is abed and fast asleep afore this time."
"Gentlemen will please come to order, now!" said Sam, when Friday had succeeded in quieting the dog. "Take off your hats an' set down like men had oughter do. The first thing we have got to 'tend to, is to settle this business with Tommy. He says he has seed enough of them swells in the village; he is down on Bobby Jennings; he wants to go with us, an' is willin' to furnish his share of the outfit. He has promised to keep a still tongue in his head, an' to obey all orders; an' now we must give him a name."
"Let me be the first mate," said Tom, who, having held high offices in several societies, thought himself worthy of being second in authority in the Crusoe band. "I am a first-class sailor, you know."
"We aint goin' to have no mates," interrupted Sam. "I am captain, governor, chief, an' all the rest of the officers in one. I can manage these fellers without any help."
"Call him Friday's Father!" said Jack Spaniard. "That's a good name."