"What did he sign it? Does he leave any address for an answer?"
"Not an address," declared Jack. "It's a pretty poor thing to scare a lot of Boy Scouts with, but I suppose it was the best he could do. It wasn't quite up to his standard of boring holes in boats, though. This is rather mild for Wyckoff."
"That reminds me," announced Tom. "We'd better have them drop the Fortuna into the water as quickly as we can, for she won't improve any where she is and we may want to make a quick getaway."
"Bright boy," Jack responded. "We'll do that same and then go uptown for some more supplies. I wonder where we can get some gasolene. We ought to have a wagon load of the stuff."
"Yes, we surely need it and if we get any more of that Madero lad on board we'll need to have a wagon go along with us."
"Wonder where he is now," Frank mused. "He certainly was a great lad. He didn't look so bad at heart. He looked to me as if he had gotten into bad company and didn't know the way out."
"He's a bright fellow, surely," agreed Jack. "Now let's get to work. Where is the foreman? We'll need him first."
In due course the necessary steps were taken and the Fortuna was again in the water. Not even an expert could have discovered the place where Wyckoff had bored the hole that so nearly cost the lives of the lads aboard the trim craft. She was again seaworthy.
A trip to the business part of town was made to select necessary supplies and order a stock of fuel. This occupied the better part of the day, for the lads were careful in their buying. They were well posted as to value and refused to allow the local merchants to overcharge them for any goods.
At length the supplies were all aboard and stowed in their places. The gasolene wagon had driven away and the boys felt more confident with full lockers and gasolene tanks.