The next instant the object he had descried had vanished in the trough of a sea.
“Could you make out anybody?” asked the major anxiously.
“It looked like a spar with—Yes, there are two figures clinging to it.”
“Here, let me look!” Rob snatched the glasses out of his comrade’s hand.
“Hooray!” he cried the next instant, “it’s Tubby and Hiram!”
“Are you sure?” asked the major, “perhaps it’s some members of Hunt’s crew.”
“No, it’s Tubby and Hiram. I can make out their uniforms,” cried Rob. As he spoke he swung the wheel over, and the Algonquin’s head was turned in the direction of the spot where a spar with two objects clinging to it had last been seen.
“Wonder what can have become of Hunt and his crowd?” said Merritt presently.
“Maybe they’ve met with a watery grave,” conjectured one of the detectives, “and from what you’ve told me it would be a good end for them.”
“If they hain’t taken that pocket-book with them,” put in his companion, “the kidnapping of those boys was as desperate a bit of work as I’ve ever heard tell of.”