"Where's your young brother?" asked Villiers.
"With Claverhouse, I think," replied Beverley.
"Well, he isn't," corrected Jack. "Alec's just gone down to the boat."
Bobby ran down to the beach and hailed the airman.
"Not a sign of him," replied Claverhouse. "I thought he'd return straight to the camp. We'll have to send out a search-party. The island isn't so very big, but he may have lost his way."
There was no lack of volunteers. Every man ashore, from Harborough to Pete, expressed his willingness to look for the missing Dick.
The fall of night hampered their task, and at the end of a couple of hours' strenuous search the party reassembled on the beach with their aim unattained.
"The moon will be up in another twenty minutes," announced Harborough, who felt himself responsible for having dispatched the young huntsman on his shooting expedition. "Who'll have another shot?"
"We'll carry on till we find him, sir," was the unanimous response.