“And why this sudden rush?” inquired Ned. “This afternoon he was in no such hurry. Something must have occurred in the meanwhile—I wonder if it was the man on the cliff—”
“Now don’t let’s go to guessing at too much,” cautioned Jerry. “The question to be settled now is: Do you want to go on a search for the derelict brig? Yes or no? That’s what we’ve got to settle now.”
There was silence for a moment, broken only by the tick of the clock in the cabin. Involuntarily Nellie glanced at it. The hands pointed to the hour of nine, and she felt that she and her sisters should be home. Jerry looked at his two companions.
“I guess we’d better not go,” said Bob slowly.
“I hate to give it up, but maybe it will be for the best,” added Ned. “I’m suspicious of him. Tell him we’ll not go, Jerry.”
“Very well.”
Jerry stepped to the cabin door and slid it back. At the sound Blowitz came eagerly forward.
“Well?” he queried. “Are you going? Can you start at once’?”
“We have decided not to go,” replied Jerry, slowly. “I—that is my chums and I—do not feel just right about it. It is not our boat, and—”
He hesitated, for he did not want to give the main reasons that had influenced him and his chums. But Blowitz did not give him a chance to continue.