"Oh, I see now," Colin said understandingly; "you covered the water with another party."
"In a very swift gasoline launch we have. While you were waking the village, I got a wireless to a revenue cutter. I caught her at less than fifteen miles away, and she's headed here now."
He turned to the Japanese.
"What is your ship? Schooner or steamer?" he asked.
"Schooner," was the reply.
The agent rubbed his hands delightedly.
"It's a clean haul," he said. "Thanks to you, Hank. Principally. To the boy, too! We've caught six men red-handed right on the rookery, with dead seals, most of them females. The launch ought to intercept the boat. There's not wind enough for a schooner to get far away by the time the revenue cutter arrives. Besides, the schooner will be short-handed since we have six of the crew here."
A sudden puff of wind lifted the fog still further and revealed the schooner herself, lying not far from shore. A row-boat was about one hundred and fifty feet from the vessel and the sta
tion launch was two hundred feet away, approaching from a different angle, but outspeeding the row-boat.
"A race!" cried Colin.