"Nothing, save that the police hope to effect his arrest in London. As far as we are concerned I think the Scouts have finished with the business. It will give us a chance to settle down to a less strenuous holiday."
CHAPTER XVII
THE MYSTERIOUS YACHT
Until over the following Sunday the Scouts of Seal Island "stood easy." The usual routine was maintained, but operations necessitating arduous work were temporarily dispensed with. The lads were all more or less done up. Want of sleep, exposure to the rain, and a surfeit of excitement tried them to a very great extent; but, thanks to their physical training, they were soon little the worse for the experiences they had undergone.
Even Coventry minor's case showed good signs of improvement. He was still unable to leave the doctor's house, but there was every chance of his being fit to take part in the camp before the end of a fortnight.
Early on Tuesday morning, the two patrols started on a boating excursion. The "Otters," with the Scoutmaster, took Varco's largest boat, while the "Wolves" embarked in a craft only slightly smaller. Both boats were provided with masts and sails, the area of the latter being comparatively small, so that there was little chance of a catastrophe occurring. Mr Buckley was a skilled and keen boat-sailer, while Simpson and Fraser of the "Wolves" knew enough about the management of a small craft under sail to be entrusted with the care of the one in which their patrol embarked.
After the gale, which had finished with the torrential rain that had caused the flooding of the subterranean passage, the weather set in fair, with a very high temperature. The Scouts unanimously voted that it was simply ripping weather for camping, and the discomforts of the gale were now almost forgotten.
It was the intention of the Scouts to circumnavigate Seal Island. A better day could not have been chosen. There was hardly any wind: what there was was off shore, while—a somewhat unusual circumstance—the ground-swell was absent.
Past the now familiar Dollar Cove the lads rowed, pausing every now and then to admire the fantastic outlines of the rugged cliffs.