"H'm! that's too bad," muttered Jack. "I was in hope I could get him in here. I'd like to know—I guess I'd better see the captain."
Partly dressing himself he hurried on deck, and looked for the light, but could see nothing.
An anchor watch was kept, or supposed to be at least, but Jack saw the man on deck fast asleep on a bench against the house on deck instead of keeping a lookout as he was supposed to do.
He could not see any vessel's light out at sea, and saw no more flashes, although he looked for them for several minutes.
"Well, I can't go to waking the captain in the middle of the night," he said, "and it is likely this fellow has gone. It is simply another disappointment. I think I'll go to bed."
CHAPTER XIV
THE MAN WITH THE WHITE MUSTACHE
In the morning Jack told the captain, Dr. Wise, and a few of his most intimate friends among the boys under the promise of keeping it quiet, the strange event of the previous night, asking the doctor if he had done right in not calling the captain.
"If you had aroused me I would probably have been mad," chuckled the captain, "and could not have done anything anyhow. It is clear that there is a way in here, although we don't know it, and that this fellow you saw signaling mistook our lights for those of one of his evil associates. I'd like to watch him, but there is no use in crying over spilled milk, and you did all right in not calling me."