“You think, then,” said I, “that they have found out the wire was bogus?”
“I think that when they got out to that desolate chunk of rock and didn’t find me there, that possibly something like that did enter their heads.”
“But——”
“But Stroth is right this minute chuckling happily; for, by the time that launch gets back to headquarters for new orders, he’ll be hull down, seaward.”
“But he’s waiting for that gasoline.”
“Oh, he is, is he? Take a squint at the schooner again, and see if he’ll have to wait long.”
Much as I hated the fellow, I couldn’t but admire his perception. I followed his pointing, and discerned that a small lighter had been brought alongside the vessel, and, by the light of the lanterns that had been hung to the rigging at the rail, I could see men transferring barrel after barrel to the schooner’s hold.
“The gasoline!” I cried.
“Probably,” came the reply.
“Then Hallins’ man who got aboard to-day was wrong as to the time they could get it?”