"What do you think can have happened?" he asked, and I replied impatiently:
"That we shall only find out by boarding her. Come to the beach at once!"
"But what about our work here?" and now it was the pungy that went from his mind, leaving there only the great desire to accomplish the purpose for which he had come.
"Never mind that now! It may be we won't want to fool around here on his account! Come quickly, Jerry, for she was close at hand before I started!"
It was actually necessary to shake the lad before I could arouse him to a full sense of the situation; but once that had been done, he followed me readily enough, even urging that I move faster.
The pungy was no more than half a mile away when we reached the shore, and we launched the canoe without delay, paddling straight out in her course.
As she came up I could see Darius at the tiller, with Jim beside him, and the other two fellows lounging forward.
Nothing had happened to the crew, that much seemed certain, and I was at my wits' end to account for the Avenger being apparently heading for home.
When we were come within hailing distance I shouted, never thinking that I might be heard by those on the Jenkins plantation:
"Why are you coming back? What has happened?"