"It looks as if she was bound in our direction, and we had better try to attract attention; but you'll never do it by shouting, my boy."
"What shall we do?"
"Build a fire, of course," Jake replied. "They have got plenty of time to send a boat ashore, for it is nearly calm, and in another hour there won't be so much as a breath of wind."
Before he had ceased speaking Neal and Teddy were running back toward the line of trees for wood, and in a short time a cloud of smoke was ascending from the shore at the very edge of the water.
While the others continued to bring fuel Poyor sprinkled the flames with a bough wet in the sea in order to prevent them from burning too freely, and there was no interruption in the work until a flag was raised on the schooner's main-mast to signify that the signal would be answered.
"We're in great luck," Cummings said, as he seated himself on one of the boulders, for it was no longer necessary to keep the fire burning. "No matter where she is bound I don't fancy we shall have much trouble in persuading them to put into Progresso, and the tramp up the shore which all have been dreading can be avoided."
As a matter of course the entire party were in the best of spirits, and to Neal and Teddy the little craft had a particularly friendly look.
The schooner had been headed for the shore when the smoke first began to ascend; but the wind was so light that she hardly moved through the water, and, after a few moments, the watchers could see that a boat was being lowered.
"That dashes some of my hopes," Cummings said with a laugh.
"What do you mean?" Neal asked.