"There, lad, no use in crying over spilt milk," comforted Cal. "The thing ter do now is to find the robbers. They kain't hev got very far. And when we do find them thar'll be some fireworks."
Nat hastily communicated his suspicion about the landlord. Cal shook his head.
"I'll bet he's in bed and asleep," he said. And so, on investigation, it proved. The man, however, was honest enough to relate in full to the boys the conversation he had had in his drinking bar with the two strangers. From his description they at once recognized that Cal had been right and that in all probability the marauders were Morello and Dayton.
The landlord volunteered to rout out his friends and form a strong posse, and this was the cause of the shouts and cries that the rascals who had stolen the sapphires and set the "Nomad" adrift had heard. But having no idea in which direction the men could have gone, it was some time before Nat suggested searching the water-front. All that time had been lost in aimless hunting about under the direction of the chief of police of Santa Inez, who was also the main part of its police force.
However, the landlord had succeeded in rousing twenty or thirty citizens, all of whom were armed, so that the posse was quite a formidable one. As they reached the water-front, Cal enjoined silence.
"If so be as they've took ter a boat," he said, "by listening quietly we kin hear ther oars."
But they listened for some minutes without hearing a sound. Suddenly Nat's sharp ears caught an odd noise. The lad, born and brought up by the sea, instantly recognized it. It was the "cheep-cheep" of blocks.
"It's that schooner," he cried, pointing to the dark blot the vessel made against the night. "They're getting up sail."
"Impossible that any one on board her could have anything to do with the robbery," decided the chief of police sagely. "I've known Captain Nelsen for many years," he went on, "and he is as honest as daylight."
"Just the same, there is something mighty queer about a schooner getting up sail at midnight," observed Nat. "If we can get a boat, I'm going to look into the matter."