CHAPTER XXXII.
A HAPPY SURPRISE.
The monotonous roar of the surf should have lulled the boys to sleep very shortly after they lay down on the sand where a number of boulders formed a partial shelter; but instead of doing so it appeared to have the opposite effect.
For a long while after Cummings and Jake were wrapped in slumber they talked of the journey which lay before them, and speculated with heavy hearts as to the fate of those who had left the burning yacht in their company.
This was a topic of conversation seldom brought up since the day they first saw the Silver City, because their peril had been so great as to overshadow everything else. Now, however, when it seemed as if they were very near home, the fear that but one boat of the four had lived to reach the land came to both with painful intensity, and fully half the night was spent in trying to persuade themselves that it was well with the remainder of the Sea Dream's crew.
When they did finally sink into slumber Poyor was sitting bolt upright with his back against a huge block of coral-like rock, looking out over the water, and in the morning when Neal opened his eyes the Indian was in the same position.
"Have you seen a vessel?" the boy asked.
"There is one," was the calm reply, and Neal sprang to his feet in the greatest excitement to see a small, schooner-rigged craft with all sail set moving slowly through the water on a parallel line with the coast, about three miles away.
In another instant he had awakened the remainder of the party by shouting vigorously, as if believing it possible that those on board could hear his voice.
"What's the matter?" Cummings asked: but before the question could be answered he also saw the craft.