Cora listened eagerly. She, too, was losing courage—it was so slight a hope that this man would lead them to where the boys might be.
"There! See that!" exclaimed Ben. "He's talking to some one on land."
"Yes, I heard Jack's voice," exclaimed Cora. "Oh, I am so glad they are safe!"
"But how do we know?" asked Belle, her voice trembling.
"Jack's voice told me," replied Cora, "for if they were in distress he would not have shouted like that!"
"But he was mad," said Ben, and in this the old fisherman made no mistake, for the voices of the boys, in angry protest, could be heard, as they argued with some one, who succeeded in keeping his part of the conversation silent from the anxious listeners.
CHAPTER IV
GETTING BACK
A few minutes later the rowboat of Jim Peters came out from Far
Island, and in it were the boys!
"If we have to bale her out all the way" Ed was saying, "I can't see why we should pay you a quarter a piece. Seems to me we are earning our fare."