“Phew!” whistled Jack Curtiss.  “Pretty steep.  But I suppose your old man will fork over, eh?”

“That’s just it,” grumbled Sam; “he won’t come across with a cent.  I suppose, if I don’t pay for the hydroplane’s recovery pretty soon, she will be sold at auction.”

“That’s the usual process,” observed Bill.

“Isn’t there any way you can raise the wind?”

“No, I’ve tried every one I can think of.  I don’t suppose either of you fellows could—­”

“Nothing doing here,” hastily cried Jack, not giving the other time to finish.

“I’m cleaned out, too,” Bill also hurriedly assured the unfortunate Sam.

“It looks like everybody but us has coin,” complained that worthy bitterly.  “While I was in the bank trying to get old man Blake to take up a note of mine for the sum I need, who should I see in there but that old fossil of a captain from Topsail Island.”

“Who grows such fine, juicy melons and keeps such a nice, amiable pet dog,” laughed Jack, roaring at the recollection of the piratical expedition of which the island dweller had told the boys.

“Ha, ha, ha!” shouted Bill in chorus.  “We’ll have to give him another visit soon.”

“But what about the old land crab, Sam?” demanded Jack the next minute.  “What was he doing in the bank?”

“Why, drawing one hundred and twenty-five dollars.  Just think of it, and we always figured it out that he was poor.”

“A hundred and twenty-five dollars!  I wonder what he’s going to do with it?” wondered Jack, with whom money and its spending was always an absorbing topic.

“Why, I overheard that, too, as I passed by,” rejoined Sam.  “He’s going to spend some of it for the repairing of his motor, which broke down yesterday, and the rest he’s going to keep by him.”

“Keep it on the island, you mean?” demanded Jack, becoming suddenly much interested.

“That’s what he said—­keep it in his safe,” replied Sam.  “But what good does that do us?”

“A whole lot, maybe,” was the enigmatic reply.  “See here, Sam, you can win that race if you get your hydroplane?”

“I’m sure of it.”

“You are going to bet on yourself, of course.”

“Sure.  I’ve got to raise some money somehow.”

“Well, I’ve thought of a way you can borrow the money to get your boat back, and when you win the race you can return it.  Come on, lees go to Bill’s den, and we’ll have a smoke and talk it over.”

CHAPTER V

THE BULLY SPRINGS A SURPRISE

That afternoon, in reply to a notice sent round by a runner, the lads of the Eagle Patrol assembled at their armory, and on Leader Rob’s orders “fell in” to hear the official announcement of the coming camping trip.  As a matter of fact, they had discussed little else for several days, but the first “regimental” notification, as it were, was to be made now.