These men must certainly have been aware that the schooner had come to an anchor off the island during the night, for they evinced no surprise at seeing the whites, but scrutinized them carefully, as if trying to judge of their character.
For fully five minutes the fellows continued the silent examination, and then they glided through the thicket toward the direction where the yacht was lying.
A quarter of an hour later Mr. Jenkins awakened, and called cheerily to the boys:
“Come, it’s time to turn out if we want to get back without running the risk of losing our way. When the sun gets behind the trees we shall be all at sea so far as direction goes.”
The short nap had refreshed the boys wonderfully, and they were on their feet at once, ready for the tramp.
“Father will laugh when we tell him that, after being on shore so long, we haven’t seen the kind of a tree we were searching for.”
“You may have better luck to-morrow,” the mate said, cheerily, as he led the return march, and the little party traveled so rapidly that in a trifle more than an hour they were pulling toward the Day Dream from the cove, all unconscious of the half-a-dozen black forms concealed in the thicket near the water’s edge watching their every movement.
CHAPTER XII.
A STRANGE SPECTACLE.
Although Andy had paid no attention to the departure of the boys and the mate, he was watching eagerly for their return, and Gil said, laughingly, as he saw the old darky’s woolly pate just outside the forward companionway hatch: