Jo and Ann dashed across the clearing and down the path that the men had taken. There was no danger of their being heard, if the men had kept up the pace at which they started. When the two reached the edge of the woods they paused a moment or so, to see whether the coast was clear, but there was not a sound or a trace to indicate that any one had lately passed that way.
Night had fallen by that time and Ann was glad of its shelter. She would not have wished to cross the road and the narrow strip of beach with an uncomfortable feeling of certainty that she was being watched from some crack in the warped hull.
“You stay here,” commanded Jo. “I’m going to take a look around.”
Obediently Ann settled herself in the deeper darkness under the side of the boat. There was a gentle rattle as Jo swung himself up into the irons and then absolute silence, so far as any human sounds came to her ears. It seemed as though she waited for ages, alone in the dark. There was plenty of time to think and to worry. Helen must be nearly there and it wouldn’t take long for father and Mr. Bailey to get started after they heard the news of Ben’s capture. They must hurry, hurry! Perhaps she ought to have gone for them, she could run so much faster than Helen and she surely wasn’t being of much use now, sitting under the side of the boat! Perhaps Helen had fallen, stepped into a hole in the turf and broken her leg, so she could not go on for help.
Something was making a slight noise, something was coming across the pebbles toward her! She half rose to her feet to meet it—and then she saw that it was Jo cautiously creeping along, bent almost double in his efforts not to be seen from the deck of the schooner.
“I found Ben,” he whispered. “I know where he is—in the hold. He ought to be about here, behind where you are sitting.”
“Did he see you?”
“No. And I didn’t see him, but there isn’t any other place for them to hide him. You both know the Code, don’t you? You let him know that we are here while I get the ladder.”
It seemed a slight chance to Ann. But Jo was certain that Ben was there and so Ann began to tap against the plank nearest her right hand. It sounded fearfully loud in the stillness and she could only hope that the thunder of the waves and the rattle of the pebbles as each wave receded might keep the men from hearing. It seemed to her almost too great a risk to run. But if Jo told her to rap, rap she would.
“Ben! We are here!”