“What’s that nise?” he whispered.
“Rollicks!” ejaculated Tom, peering through the bushes. “Hist! There’s a boat! Two men in it! They’re comin’ across the island! They got guns! They’re after flock pigeons! As soon as they get in near enough we’ll make a bolt for the edge, an’ swim out to ’em an’ tell ’em!”
They were breathless with excitement and hope.
“Hide!” cried Dave. “Hide! He might a’ heard them coming!”
They heard a soft footstep close behind them, turned, and saw Jean Petit!
Chapter XVII.
THE RUSH FOR THE BOAT.
The look in Petit’s eyes when he perceived the boat was not calculated to reassure Tom and Dave. Dave’s face showed gruesomely pale in contrast with his red hair, and no one would have recognised in Tom the high-spirited youth, who, garbed in nothing but a sense of injury, had defied his tyrannical parent only a few days before.
Dave, who had got into the habit of taking his cue from his superior officer, was ready to bolt, but Tom made no sign. After a visible effort to control his emotion, he began to gaze abstractedly round at the fig-trees.