Without responding to his hail the two strangers rowed hastily to their sloop and went below. A minute or two of investigation evidently satisfied them that nothing had been disturbed. As they came up again Jim ran the Barracouta alongside.
"Where you from?" he asked.
The younger man again acted as spokesman:
"Way off ... there!"
As when Budge had questioned him, he gestured vaguely toward the west. Then he launched into a repetition of what he had said that forenoon.
"We stay on dis island all summer. Make trap. Build camp. Catch plenty fish, plenty lobster. All friend, eh?"
He laid his left hand on his heart, and with his right made a sweeping gesture that included the whole group.
"You wait!"
Dropping suddenly out of sight, he reappeared with equal quickness, brandishing the black bottle.
"We drink ... all together, eh?"