The lad obeyed promptly; but no sign of the amateur wrecker could be seen, and Captain Eph said as he turned to gaze westward:
"The hulk lays in sich a manner that we couldn't hope to see him, unless he was aloft. Hello, here comes a cat-boat from the shore, an' it wouldn't surprise me a little bit if the tinker Sammy talked about yesterday was comin' after that 'ere motor."
Because it was the first time since he landed on the ledge that he had seen a sail coming toward the light, Sidney gazed at it eagerly, until Captain Eph said:
"There's no use strainin' your eyes, Sonny, for it'll be a full hour before she gets anywhere near, with this wind. I reckon we'd better go down to the shore an' see the motor, for it ain't likely the tinker will care about stayin' here any very great while."
"Shall we let him take it before Mr. Peters comes back?" Sidney asked in surprise.
"Why not? When a man comes as far as he has while a storm seems to be brewin', it would kind'er be hard lines to hold him because Sammy was off wreckin'. We'll load on the motor as soon as it can be done, an' send him back while the weather is decent, else he might be on our hands quite a spell. People can't get out here at this time of year jest when the fancy strikes 'em."
Although the motor was not particularly heavy, Captain Eph and Sidney soon came to understand that it would be quite a difficult task to get it down to the cove where it might be put aboard the boat, for the jagged rocks presented most serious obstacles.
However, the old keeper set about the task with a will, and by the time the stranger had run into the cove the work was well advanced.
"I allowed that you'd be wantin' to put about as soon as might be, owin' to the looks of the weather, so Sonny an' I have been at work gettin' this 'ere thing where it could be handled. I reckon this is what you've come after," and the keeper pointed to the motor.
"Yes, that's what brought me out here, though I wish now I'd staid at home, for the wind is likely to blow pretty fresh before I can get back," the machinist replied as he made his boat fast to the ways, and began to make a critical inspection of the motor.