“Hullo! Is that you, friends?” came back the reply.
“Yes. Where are you?”
“This way.” There was a moment’s pause, and then the party of three were joined. “You’ve been pretty long, strangers,” went on Carney.
“We had to fix a number of things,” was the reply.
“Did you get everything straight?”
“Pretty much so,” replied the fellow who had been addressed as Dick.
“Good for you, Mr. Avery!”
I was intensely interested in this bit of conversation. It proved beyond a doubt that Mr. Norton and the two strangers were in league together and that Carney was in the circle. The four were up to no good; but what their plans were for the future was not yet made plain.
“How are you getting on with your boat?” went on Yates the third man.
“Slowly.” Carney paused for a moment. “I’ve had a visitor since you’ve been gone.”