She spoke low for she did not want him to hear her, and they were quite near to shore now.
Ned steered for the little point of land, and found he could send the boat quite close with no danger of hitting the rocks. Presently Blowitz, who had momentarily vanished amid the shadows at the foot of the cliff, appeared.
“Good evening, boys,” he said. “I—” he stopped suddenly, “I didn’t know you had young ladies aboard.”
“Yes, we have been taking a moonlight run,” Jerry explained. “We saw you up there on the cliff, and—”
“I was there with a friend of mine,” Blowitz spoke quickly. “We were talking about the derelict brig. I was to meet a sea captain there, but he did not come. My friend had to leave in a hurry, and just then I heard the noise made by your boat, so I called to you. Did you hear a call?”
“We heard some sort of a call,” spoke up Bob, “but we thought it was—”
“That was me,” interrupted Blowitz, “I recognized the Ripper by the peculiar sound of the exhaust. I have quite a trick of recognizing boats that way. I was afraid you’d get past, so I called. But I didn’t know you had the young ladies with you, or I would not have bothered you.”
“That’s all right,” said Jerry. “We were coming ashore anyhow.”
“You were? What for?” and Blowitz looked sharply at the boys. “Oh, I suppose you saw me and wanted to tell me you would accept my offer—but excuse me, perhaps the young ladies—”
“Oh, we have told them of it,” answered Ned. “You can speak before them.”