There was a hard struggle on the beach of lonely Cliff Island. And the boys did not have such an advantage as it would seem at first, even though the hands and feet of their mysterious prisoner were bound.

He was big and strong, and he had evidently been in tight places before, for he knew how to handle himself. Every time he got a chance, as he and his captors rolled together over the sands, he would strike out with his two hands at once. Several times he hit Frank or Andy glancing blows, and once he gave the elder lad such a box on the side of the head that the boy saw stars for a moment.

Again he hit Andy, and knocked him several feet distant so that at first Frank feared his brother had been hurt.

“I’m all right!” shouted the plucky Racer lad, as he jumped and came on to renew the struggle. “Hold his head down in the sand, Frank, and I’ll tie some more ropes around his feet!”

“You will not!” yelled the man, and as Frank took his brother’s advice, and pressed the man’s head down in the yielding sand, Andy endeavored to slip another noose about the feet, for the boys had cut the tow rope into several pieces.

Like a madman the fellow kicked out with both feet. Frank saw his object, and uttered a warning cry.

“Keep away!” shouted the elder lad. “If he hits you it will be all day with you!”

“That’s what it will!” yelled the infuriated man.

“Watch me!” cried Andy with a laugh. “I didn’t learn to throw a lasso for nothing.” He swung the noose in a circle about his head, and, as the man raised his feet in the air, to ward off any personal attack, Andy skillfully tossed the coils about his feet. They fell around the shoes, and in an instant Andy had pulled his end of the rope taut, making two coils about the prisoner.

“Now I have him, Frank,” he called. “I’ll take a turn around part of the boat, and pull. Then you tie down his arms.”

It was a good plan, and well carried out. With a turn of the rope about a part of the wrecked motor boat, Andy pulled the man’s menacing legs down flat on the sands. He could no longer raise them.

“I have him!” exclaimed Frank a moment later, as he passed several turns of the rope he held about the still bound hands and arms of their prisoner. “Now we’ll truss him up!”

The man was practically helpless now, and he realized it. Suddenly he ceased his struggles, and when the brothers had completed their work, and raised him to a sitting position on the sand, he could do no more harm.

“Well, I guess you’ve got me,” he growled. “What are you going to do with me?”

“It depends on what you tell us,” said Frank.

“I’ll tell you nothing!”

“Then we’ll take you where you will. I guess when Paul Gale sees you he’ll remember something about you that will put us on the right track.”

“Paul Gale! That’s not his name. It’s—you say he’ll remember?” and the man interrupted himself in some confusion. “Has he lost his mind?” The question was an eager one.

“He can’t remember—” began Andy, but Frank stopped him with a sudden gesture.

“When you tell us what we want to know, we’ll answer some of your questions,” the elder lad said. “Come on, Andy. Let’s have a look at the wrecked motor boat. Maybe we can find some clues there.”

“You keep away from that boat!” cried the man savagely. “It’s mine. I order you to keep away!” He struggled desperately to get loose, but could not.

“We’ll do as we please now,” said Frank. “You had your way long enough. We&rs............