“I think it better for you boys to stay aboard the boat. Ensign Warwick will command the craft, while I will take a party overland.”
“Very good, sir,” said Jack. “But we’re not likely to see much excitement aboard the Sub Chaser, are we?”
Inspector Burton smiled tolerantly, noting the disappointment in Jack’s voice.
“Oh, you can’t tell,” he said, rolling up the map. “You fellows may have all the excitement. But, come, let us go on deck and see where we are. It’s a run of only twenty-five or thirty miles to West Point and, as this boat is under forced draught of twenty-four knots an hour, we should be nearing the island. You see, time has been flying. It’s almost eight o’clock.”
The moon had not yet risen, but the stars were out and a faint afterglow of sunset still lingered in the western sky. Against that sky, ahead, there loomed a huge island with a spine of mountains down the center so lofty as to wring a cry of surprise from the boys.
“I hadn’t expected them to be so tall,” said Jack.
“Two thousand feet,” said Inspector Burton.
The boat altered its course as it approached the land and, with engines muffled, was running westward
at reduced speed. Alongshore, the boys could see the ghostly white breaking of the surf.
“Where will we land?” asked Bob. “The mountains seem to come right down to the sea.”