“Say, Eben, I was almost asleep.  I didn’t rest well last night.”

“What was the trouble, Gabe?  Why couldn’t ye sleep?”

“Thoughts, boy, thoughts.  I was thinking about Donaster.”

“H’m, it’s no wonder ye couldn’t sleep with that skunk in yer mind.  Couldn’t ye find something better to think about?”

“I suppose so, but I didn’t want to.  Ye see, he’s anxious for me to find Miss Randall for him.  Then when she’s found, to make a show of kidnapping her, or getting her into a dangerous place, so he can come along and rescue her.  See?”

An amused expression shone in Eben’s eyes as he turned them upon the face of the reclining man.

“Something like a movin’-picture show, eh?” he queried.  “A pretty girl, villains, an’ hero all made to order.  Ho, ho, that’s a good one.”

“Seems so.  And I guess he wants us to be the villains, Eben.  Suppose we try it, boy.  It’d be great fun, wouldn’t it?”

Eben thought for a few minutes, and then he brought his right hand down upon his thigh with a resounding whack.

“I’ve got it!” he exclaimed, much excited.  “It’s jist the thing.”

“What is it, lad?”

“An idea, an’ we kin work it, too.  It’ll be great fun.”

“Out with it, then.”

“S’pose we give Donaster a big scare.  I know a dandy place back in the hills where we kin take him.  It’s an island in a lake, an’ there’s a cabin there, too.  It belongs to the Hamptons.  John an’ his mother often go out there to look after a coal mine Mr. Hampton found.  Ye’ve heard of it, haven’t ye?”

“Sure.  I guess everybody knows about it.  I understand it’s good coal, too.”

“Y’ bet it, an’ Mr. Hampton spent every cent he had in buyin’ the land before he let on he had found the coal.  John an’ his mother hope to make a lot of money out of it.  I know the place well.”

“But what has this to do with Donaster?” Grimsby asked.  “Keep to your story, Eben.”

“I’m comin’ to that if ye give me time.  Now, s’pose we make Donaster think that Miss Randall is hidin’ out there on that island with the Hamptons.  Let’s send fer him, take him there, give him the slip, an’ do a few other things to scare him.  I’d like to hear him yell fer a while.  He can’t git off the island till we go fer him.  Oh, it’d be great fun.”

“It certainly would,” Grimsby replied.  “But you’ll have to do it, Eben.  When could you go?”

“To-morrow, I guess.  I’m goin’ to stay home this trip, an’ let dad take the boat to the quarry.  You git Donaster, an’ I’ll take him out.  But you’ll have to come along, too, Gabe.  I won’t go without you.  I might want help.”

After some hesitation, Grimsby decided to go.  He did not fancy the jaunt, but he favoured the idea, and if Eben would not go without him, there was nothing else for him to do but to go along.  He could phone for Donaster in the morning, and he knew that the fellow would come at once.