“Very good,” said Jack; “I am ready at a moment’s notice. Shall I set off this forenoon?”
“Not quite so sharp as that,” replied Murray, laughing. “To-morrow morning, at day-break, will do. There is a small sloop lying in a creek about twenty miles below this. We beached her there last autumn. You’ll go down in a boat with three men, and haul her into deep water. There will be spring tides in two days, so, with the help of tackle, you’ll easily manage it. Thence you will sail to the new fort, forty miles farther along the coast, and take charge.”
“The three men you mean to give me know their work, I presume?” said Jack.
“Of course they do. None of them have been at the fort, however.”
“Oh! How then shall we find it?” inquired Jack.
“By observation,” replied the other. “Keep a sharp look out as you coast along, and you can’t miss it.”
The idea of mists and darkness and storms occurred to Jack Robinson, but he only answered, “Very good.”
“Can any of the three men navigate the sloop?” he inquired.
“Not that I’m aware of,” said Murray; “but you know something of navigation, yourself, don’t you?”
“No! nothing!”