Perhaps Mr. Vandyne would have preferred to hear the story in fragments rather than at one sitting; but Bob was bent on spinning a yarn, and as there was no practicable alternative he was forced to submit.
Harry began without delay, Jim and Walter interrupting whenever he neglected to give all the details. The old sailor then related the particulars of the involuntary cruise up to the time Joe came aboard. He in turn told of the disaster to the Sea Bird, and Bob finished the story, which occupied considerably more than an hour in the telling.
"We shall have to let the crew know what you've got here, although there's no necessity of explaining where or how it was found, for they will be needed to take the bags aboard," Mr. Vandyne said, after the lengthy "yarn" had been spun. "There is no danger, for the schooner is commanded by a man in whom I have every confidence, and there won't be a piece missing when we arrive in New York."
"Now tell us how you knew where we were?" Harry asked.
"The party who came in search of the murderers gave your written story to the newspapers in Savannah, and it was copied all over the country."
Then Mr. Vandyne briefly related what had previously been done toward finding the boys.
When the Sally Walker failed to return it was supposed she had been blown out to sea, and every available craft was hired to search for the missing party. When a week passed without the hoped-for result, it seemed certain that all were dead, and they were mourned for until the newspaper articles appeared.
The remainder of the story was brief. Mr. Vandyne had just purchased the schooner-yacht Lorlie—the same craft which was now hove-to off the key—and in her he started for the Bahamas.
"What was the meaning of those pistol-shots we heard, sir?" Joe asked. "They sounded like a fight rather than a signal."
"I wanted to let you understand we were coming, and emptied my revolver at the same moment the captain did his. There was considerable noise, I'll admit; but knowing we should land in a few moments, I paid little attention to it at the time."