“How can we follow them, when the Golden Eagle isn’t here?” said Dave.
“But she is here—on the other side of the island.”
“Oh, are you sure?” cried our hero.
“Yes. I saw her coming in,—when we were on one of the hills. She was minus her foretopmast, which shows she must have suffered some in that hurricane.”
“If that’s the case, let us get to her with all possible speed, go aboard, and follow the Aurora,” returned Dave.
CHAPTER XXIX—A CHASE ON THE OCEAN
It took the best part of the afternoon and evening to get the whole party together again, and send word to the mate of the Golden Eagle to bring the vessel around to that side of Cave Island. And while this was being done the hurts Captain Sanders and Smiley had received were cared for as well as the means at hand permitted.
The captain and the wounded sailor had a long story to tell, of how they had followed the three rascally Englishmen and Nick Jasniff, and how the latter had made a compact with the others, so that they would take him with them when they left the island.
“The Englishmen were a bit afraid of the captain of the Aurora,” said Captain Sanders, “and we overheard them discuss the situation. They knew the captain would want to know what had become of the fourth man he had left here. At last they resolved to try a trick, but they weren’t sure it would work. But evidently it did, for the schooner has sailed.”