“And those three men are the fellows who robbed me!” muttered Giles Borden. “Oh, what luck! Ten minutes too late!”
“Can’t we follow them in some way?” asked Roger.
“I don’t see how,” answered Dave. “Our rowboat is on the other side of the island. Besides, even if we had a boat, I don’t believe we could catch them before the schooner got underway. Oh, isn’t it a shame!” And Dave fairly ground his teeth in helpless dismay.
“If we had a cannon!” murmured old Billy Dill. “A shot across the bow o’ that craft would make the cap’n take warnin’, I’m thinkin’!”
“Do you suppose any other boat is handy?” asked the Englishman.
“We might look,” returned the senator’s son.
All were about to run out on the beach when Dave suddenly called a halt.
“Don’t do it,” he said. “If we can’t follow them, it will be best for the present not to show ourselves.”
“How’s that?” demanded Giles Borden. “It’s a bloody shame to let them go in this fashion.”
“If they see us, they’ll know we are after them and they’ll sail away as fast as possible,” went on our hero. “If they don’t see us, they may take their time in getting away, and that will give us so much better chance to catch them.”