CHAPTER IV.
THE CASTAWAYS.
Gil and Nelse, who had expected to see an island of fair proportions, were considerably disappointed on reaching the deck at the scene before them.
A long, low stretch of sand, hardly rising above the level of the ocean, could be distinguished directly ahead, and was about as uninviting a place as one could find. Toward the eastward the surf broke with considerable violence, and this it was, rather than the key itself, which attracted attention to the spot.
Already preparations were being made to lower one of the boats, and Gil asked his father:
“How near can we go to land?”
“It isn’t safe to venture very far across. It is all shoal water to the westward of us, and I shall hold the schooner off about a mile.”
“Do you see any signs of them?”
“The smoke is enough to show they’re keeping a pretty sharp lookout,” and Captain Mansfield pointed to a thin thread of blue, which had been unnoticed by the boys until this moment. “That is a signal which they started the moment we hove in sight; but it’s dying down, now we’ve shown our intention of running toward them.”
Ten minutes later the boys could distinguish, by aid of the glass, a number of figures on the beach, and Nelse said, with a laugh: