Roy went into the room and an instant later cried:
“He says the yacht is drifting on to a reef, and will be ashore in ten minutes if we don’t go ahead.”
“Tell him nothing will suit us better than to have her there!” Vance cried angrily, and Ned shouted cheerily:
“It’s all a lie, for even if they have been running up the island we have nothing to fear while the wind holds as it did when we started.”
Roy repeated Vance’s words, and added on his own account:
“There is no use for you to shout through this tube, for we don’t care to make any trade with you, unless it should be on the basis of your leaving the yacht at once.”
“Will you put us ashore if we agree to give up our weapons?”
Roy repeated the question to his companions, and Ned said:
“We can’t afford to run the risk of their treachery. If they want to take to the small boat, we’ll allow them the chance of getting into her; but it must be done mighty quick.”
There was no reply to this decision for a long while, and Roy had gone into the engine-room to assure himself things were all right there, when the whistle was heard again.