Roupall did as he requested, demanding, in his turn, if Robin was mad enough to think of swimming to the Fire-fly.
"Yes," was the Ranger's concise reply. "And now," he added, "Jack, remember, the moment you see my signal, deliver this to the Skipper; but, as you value your life, not before."
He plunged into the ocean as he spoke; and presently, the sound of the dividing waters was lost in the distance.
"Well!" exclaimed Roupall, "that beats all the freaks I ever knew even Robin to be after! Why, the vessel's near a mile off; and, now I think of it, I never asked him what we were to do when he gave the signal; but I suppose his paper tells. Lying about here, in such peril! But it's always the way—the minute a sailor touches land, good-by to his well-doing."
Before the speaker had climbed the topmost cliff, he met the Buccaneer.
"Hast seen Robin Hays?" was his first question.
"Ay, sir; and, if it was day, you might see him too—at least, the best part of him—his head, yonder—making for the Fire-fly."
"How! making for the Fire-fly! What do ye mean. Jack? this is no time for jesting."
"I mean, Captain, that Robin Hays is swimming to the Fire-fly; and that he told me to watch for a signal he would make; and——"
"And what?"