“Humph! This is strange!” the chief exclaimed as his boat swung up alongside of the Dartaway. “Let’s go aboard.”
Making the motor craft fast, they all scrambled up and were soon on the schooner’s deck.
A hasty search served to show that the schooner had no occupants.
“I can’t understand it,” said Jerry, who was much alarmed.
From the shore, where the tramp had gone, leaping from the schooner’s deck, there came an excited shout.
“Here’s a clue!” he cried.
“What is it?” asked the chief as he prepared to join the ragged man.
For answer the tramp pointed to several footprints in the soft sand near the edge of the lake.
“The man with the arrow on his shoe!” he said. “I thought we’d find him with the gang. Now, Chief, I guess we can close in on ’em.”