"It'll be a bit lonesome here, Walt; but you must do a share of the work. Keep your weather-eye lifting all the time, an' if you see any kind of a craft sing out till we answer."
Walter did feel a trifle nervous at being left alone so far from his companions; but he made a manly effort to appear brave, and said, as the men walked swiftly away:
"Don't trouble yourselves about me. I can stand watch as well as any one else, and if a sail does heave in sight you shall know it."
"That's right, lad; keep up your courage whatever may happen, an' everything will come out ship-shape!" Bob shouted cheerily as he and Joe disappeared around a clump of bushes, leaving Walter alone with the mournful lip, lip, lip of the sea ringing in his ears like a funeral dirge.
CHAPTER XXIX.
PREPARING THE BEACONS.
After leaving the sentinel on duty Bob and Joe walked around the shore at a rapid pace, for it was their purpose to explore the island while searching for food and wreckage; and since it would be almost dangerous to remain on the open beach after the sun was high in the heavens, there was really but a few hours during which their investigations could be pursued.
As a matter of course they were eager to get some definite idea of where the Bonita had been stranded in order to know at which point the wreckage would be likely to come ashore, and this information was soon gained. After a brisk walk of half an hour the searchers were at the most northerly end of the key, and directly before them, not more than half a mile from the beach, in a westerly direction, was the wreck.
The gale which had driven the Sea Bird ashore had torn and riven the ill-fated brig until she was little more than a shapeless mass of timbers, and then thrown her high up on the sands, where she presented a mournful-looking spectacle. In every direction could be seen casks, spars, cordage and splintered timbers, some half-buried on the beach, while others dotted the shoals along the west side of the key.