“I noticed one thing that puzzled me; instead of anchoring the boats and loading them afloat, they had pulled them up on shore. As the tide had begun to ebb, I wondered how they were to get them into the water again after putting their cargoes aboard. However, that was their business and not mine. I had seen all there was to see, so I slowly crept back again till I reached the trail. Then I hurried for fear the quarry would escape before we could get there with your boats.
“That’s all there is to tell.”
The lieutenant smiled his satisfaction as he commended Tom’s exploit, adding:
“We can let it ‘get good and dark’ before pouncing upon them. They won’t get away in a hurry. They’ll have trouble getting their boats afloat again. Indeed, they’ll probably wait for the next flood tide. Anyhow, we won’t leave here till it is thoroughly dark. You’re sure you can find your way into the creeks in the dark? It’s cloudy, and the night promises to be very black.”
“Oh, there’ll be no trouble about that,” answered Cal.
XXIII
TOM AND THE MAN WITH THE GAME LEG
It was very dark indeed when the ship’s boats, well manned and with carefully muffled oars, set out for the capture.