As the captain had said, there was no sign that the island was inhabited. The low lying beach stretched back, with only a gentle rise, for a distance of some hundred yards, where it met a long line of trees which, the captain assured them, were cocoanut trees. What was beyond they could not see. A few minutes later and the Valkyrie swung at anchor at the mouth of a narrow cove where the water was only about twenty feet deep.
"See that the second mate goes ashore with us," Mr. Lakewood whispered to Captain Ole, as the latter was about to give the order to lower one of the small boats.
Leaving the boat in charge of the first mate, the two boys together with their uncle, Captain Ole, and Josh Kelley and two of the sailors, were soon standing on the beach.
"Bring those two baskets along," the captain ordered the sailors, as he led the way toward the grove of trees.
"Look at the nuts, will you?" Jack shouted as they stood beneath the trees. "I reckon it won't take us long to fill the baskets. Wait a minute and I'll climb up and shake some down."
He was up one of the largest of the trees almost before he had finished speaking, and soon the big nuts began to fall, and in less than fifteen minutes they had filled the baskets.
"We should have brought more baskets," Jack declared regretfully.
"Those two were all we had," the mate told him.
"You two," the captain said turning to the two sailors, "take these nuts to the ship, and then bring the baskets back. We'll help you carry them down to the beach."
"Let's see how far this grove goes," Bob said a moment later after he had jumped to the ground.