"Well, I know something about the locality here," the old sailor answered, and he looked at Alice with a friendly wink. "I shouldn't want to go ashore at the place where I escaped from after that mutiny," he went on. "They might not want to let me go again."
"No, that's so," agreed Mr. Pertell. "It might not be just the thing, though you could prove your innocence."
"No, I can't! That's the trouble!" cried Jack, who had told his story to the manager. "I don't want to be caught, and put in jail. I'm going to keep away from that island where I was locked up."
"Which one was it?" asked Ruth.
"I don't know the name," Jack said, "but I can tell it the minute I set eyes on it. I don't want to go there. I had enough——"
Jack paused suddenly. The glass went to his eye, and he called out:
"Sail ho!"
"Where away?" demanded the helmsman.
"Two points off on the lee bow. She's a small steamer, and she—she's flying the British flag!" added the old man.
A strange look of fear came over his face.