"I don't know. He looked like a farmer to me."
"Did you see the money on the table?" broke out Tom. "They must have been gambling!"
"If they were, all I've got to say, that third fellow better look out for Koswell and Larkspur," continued Tom. "They are sharpers at cards, so Dudd Flockley once told me. He said they got him to put up his money a number of times and each time they won. He was inclined to think they didn't play fairly."
"Well, knowing them as we do, I'd say they wouldn't be above cheating," said Sam. "But what in the world can they be doing in this out-of-the-way place?"
"That remains to be found out," replied his big brother. "Maybe they were on the road and ran here for shelter from the hailstorm."
"I'm not afraid of them, Dick," said Tom.
"Then what's the use of keeping out of sight? I'd rather go in there and give them a thrashing, like the one we gave them on that island."
"Don't forget we have the _Dartaway_ here and they might take pleasure in ruining the craft or running off with her. Besides, I'd like to watch them a bit and find out a little about their plans. Remember, they want to play us some dirty trick."
"There they go!" burst out Sam, at that instant, and motioned to the front of the cottage. All looked in the direction he pointed out, to see Koswell and Larkspur hurrying down a lane that led to a road running between the trees.
"You come back here! That wasn't fair!" shouted the farm hand who had been playing cards with them. "Come back!" And he rushed to the front door of the cottage and waved his arm wildly.
"It was fair!" shouted back Jerry Koswell.
"Sure it was fair!" added Bart Larkspur. "We'd come back, only we are in a hurry."
"You cheated me!" stormed the farm hand and shook his fist at the pair. But they paid no further attention, and soon the darkness and a bend of the road hid them from view.
The Rover boys waited a few seconds and then knocked on the back door of the cottage. The farm hand, a fellow named Dan Murdock, stamped over to the door and threw it open.
"What do you want?" he asked surlily. The loss of his money had made him ill-tempered.
"Why, hello, Murdock!" cried Sam. "I didn't know you lived here."
"Oh, so it's you, Rover," answered the farm hand. He remembered that he had once given Sam a ride and had been well paid for it. "Caught in the hailstorm?" he went on, a bit more pleasantly.