"All that appears unfortunate is not ill-luck," Joe added; and then the captain of the schooner shouted:
"We'll give them a chase, anyhow. Tell us the full particulars concerning the brig, and if we don't succeed in catching the murderers it will be easy to send the information to every port they're likely to enter. By that means they'll be prevented from enjoying the stolen property very long. Come aboard, where we can talk without such a waste of wind!"
"Let's all hands go," Bob suggested; and in a few moments the crew of the Sea Bird were on the schooner—Harry telling the story of how he, Walter and Jim were carried away by the Bonita; Bob relating the particulars of the Trade Wind's loss, and Joe giving an account of the collision.
"It's kind of a mixed up affair," the captain said, rubbing his nose vigorously, as if to quicken memory, "and I reckon it'll be safer to take down all the names, so's there'll be no mistake."
"I'll write out the whole thing for you," Harry proposed, and the captain appeared to be relieved by the proposition.
"I ain't got much of a fist for writin'," he replied half-apologetically, "an' it'll save me a deal of time." Then, as Harry began what of necessity would be quite a lengthy narrative, he asked Bob: "Is there anything we can do for you? Have you stores enough for a decently long voyage?"
"I reckon we have everything needful except coal, an' we'll have to run into Nassau for that. If you'll give me the course it'll be a big help, seein's how I ain't very much of a navigator."
This the captain was not only willing but pleased to do. He even went so far as to draw on a piece of brown paper a rude chart of the North-east Providence Channel, and the self imposed task was hardly completed when Harry brought his written story to an end.