“The secret of the cove!” exclaimed Jerry.
He pointed to a small body of water below them as they stood on a high sand bank. As the boys looked they saw a sailing vessel and another craft floating near a small dock.
“There’s the sloop!” cried Bob.
“And there’s our boat!” exclaimed Ned. “We have found her again!”
“Easy!” whispered Jerry as he sank down, pulling his companions to the earth. “There are the men!”
As he spoke three roughly dressed men came from a small shack near the dock, and walked to where the sloop was moored. They were carrying boxes and bales aboard.
“Looks like the stuff we picked up from the broken-backed steamer,” whispered Ned.
“I guess they’re wreckers, who gather stuff that floats ashore,” came from Jerry.
“And I’ll bet they’re the men I heard plotting about the lighthouse,” said Ned. “We are on their track!”
“But how did they get their boat in here, and how did they float the Dartaway in?” asked Jerry. “This looks like a little lake.”