“A ship off the island, do you think?” James suggested.
“The Unicorn, perhaps!” Jenny cried.
“Then she must be very near the island,” John Block remarked, “for that report was close at hand.”
“Come to the balcony, come to the balcony!” Frank cried excitedly.
“Let us be careful not to be seen, for the savages must be on the alert,” Captain Gould cautioned them.
All eyes were turned towards the sea.
No ship was to be seen, although, judging from the nearness of the report, it must have been off Whale Island. All that the boatswain could see was a single canoe, manned by two men, which was trying to get in from the open sea to the beach at Falconhurst.
“Can they be Ernest and Jack?” Jenny whispered.
“No,” Fritz answered, “those two men are natives, and the canoe is a pirogue.”
“But why are they running away like that?” Frank asked. “Can there be someone after them?”