The steamer had hardly passed the bit of water and the boys were still standing, when Mr. Richards came out of the pilot house and hurried to them.
"Did you see anything?" he asked.
"No; did you?" asked Alvin in turn.
"I am not certain, but the captain and I caught a glimpse of something which we thought might be the stern or bow of a motor boat like yours, though as likely as not it was nothing of the kind."
"Can you get the captain to put us ashore?" eagerly asked Alvin. "I'll pay him for his trouble."
Richards shook his head and smiled.
"He wouldn't do it for a thousand dollars; there is no place to make a landing, though he might use one of the boats to have you rowed to land. He halts only at certain fixed points."
"What is the best we can do?"
"Do you mean to find out what it is that is lying in that inlet?"
Alvin replied that such was the wish of himself and his companion.