“Why couldn’t they be pleasure seekers?” Vance asked.
“Because it isn’t probable they’d fool around here in such a craft as that appears to be. There isn’t so much as a mast to be seen, and if anybody was coming here for fun they wouldn’t depend on oars all the time, when the wind would send them along very much faster.”
There could be no question but that Ned’s argument was a good one, and the boys watched eagerly for some signs of life.
An hour passed, and neither had thought it might be well to economize the time by getting breakfast.
Now the floating object could be seen quite distinctly, for both the current and the light breeze was setting it directly toward the key.
There was no longer any question as to what it was.
They could distinguish the bow and stern as the little craft was raised on the gentle swell, and Ned finally said:
“She’s a boat about the size of the three I saw on board the Evening Star, and most likely has gone adrift from some vessel. If there was anybody on her we should have seen them before this.”
“It’ll be a mighty lucky thing for us if she comes ashore here, for we shall be able to leave this place as soon as we have dug up the rest of your silver,” Vance suggested.
Singularly enough, the others had not thought of this, and it seemed as if fortune was favoring them wonderfully.