"You are?" asked Marcus, puzzled to know what this could be for.
"In the mornin' when our two chaps wake up they'll be so near their mates it won't be my fault if that affair doesn't get settled," and the captain rubbed his hands and laughed softly.
"Oh, I see! All right. Just as you say."
So while Ralph and Ben slept soundly in the cabin of the Una, the little vessel sailed on and on in the moonlight, and before midnight dropped anchor just off the south end of Whaleback. The weather-beaten face of the old captain broadened with mirth as he looked across at the cluster of tents showing white in the moonlight, and thought of the commotion he would create in the morning. As he crept down into the cabin to indulge in a nap, he laughed aloud over his manoeuvre; but the two boys were too soundly asleep to be easily disturbed.
CHAPTER XVII.
A SURPRISE.
At the earliest dawn of day the captain and Marcus stole quietly from the cabin, closing the door carefully that the boys might sleep undisturbed. "I don't want to miss a mite of the fun I've got planned out, Marcus. I tell you I feel like a boy myself this morning."
They kept very quiet, fearing that Ralph and Ben might appear too soon upon the scene. After a while they saw Jonas emerge from his tent with a fishing-rod over his shoulder. Intent on business only, thinking about the breakfast he was to prepare, he had gone nearly out to the end of the point of rocks at the side of the beach, before he discovered the fishing-smack anchored within speaking distance. The captain had already stepped into his boat, and with a few strokes of the oars he reached the rocks where Jonas stood rubbing his eyes to make sure he was not dreaming.
"Well, I never! Where did you come from all of a sudden?" was Jonas's greeting.
"Hush! Don't talk loud. I've got a couple of passengers I don't want waked up."