“Please step in, both of you!” said the owner of the fine pleasure houseboat, and as he said this, he opened the cabin door, allowing the eager Bluff to enter; and then gently pushing Frank after him, closed the door behind him.
“Wait, I’ve got electrics here, and I’ll push the button. This is what you might call a modern, up-to-date boat, and you’ll get the surprise of your life right now.”
They surely did; for as the light suddenly sprang up they saw sitting about the luxuriously-furnished cabin three other fellows, in whom they easily recognized Oswald Fredericks and his college chums, Raymond Ellis and Duke Fletcher!
It was certainly a tableau, as the rivals stared at each other.
“Why, hello! Langdon, just dropped in to see me, eh? Rather nice of you, too, considering how little we got together in college!”
Fredericks, as he said this, made a movement with his hand toward the young fellow who had ushered Frank and Bluff into the cabin of the big and commodious power houseboat; and immediately the grind of a key in the lock told that he had seen to it that the way of escape was cut off.
They were four to two, a rather top-heavy arrangement, Frank thought, as he backed a little, so as to keep any of the fellows from getting behind him.
Outwardly he seemed fairly calm, though his eyes were flashing with the spirit of defiance that moved his soul.
“You know as well as anything, Fredericks,” he said, coldly, “that if I’d had any idea this was your boat, nothing could have tempted me to come in here, or bother you at all. But your friend told us it was his boat, and that he was traveling all alone, except for the man who was mending the engine out there.”
“Oh! well, Benedict only did what I asked him to do, when I saw that it was your crazy old tub coming in to tie up here,” replied the other, with a careless shrug of his shoulders. “Looked as if fortune wanted to just play the whole thing right into my hands; for I was hoping this very afternoon you’d happen along, as things began to seem dull.”
“Well, what are we to believe about this; is it a sort of trap, and do you expect to jump on us, now you’ve got us in here?” asked Frank.
Apparently the other was surprised to see him take it so coolly. Perhaps he had even hoped to hear Frank Langdon beg to be let off without any trouble.