"Hi! stop them, Gerald!" shouted Rand, dashing after them.
Donald, at the alarm, rushed toward the window, and, tripping over a coil of rope, stumbled against a stack of oars, sending them down with a crash that could be heard a mile. Picking himself up, he ran after Rand down the landing.
There was a splash in the water, and the sound of rapidly receding oars, but there was no one at the landing.
"What has become of Gerald?" asked Rand, looking around.
"He can't be far off," replied Donald, "Give him a call."
"Hello-o-o, Gerald!" shouted Rand, but Gerald did not answer.
"Hello, there! What's ail the noise about?" demanded Colonel Snow, who had followed Pepper onto the landing. "Why, boys, what are you doing here?"
"We can't find Gerald," explained Donald, who was looking in ail kinds of impossible places.
"I shouldn't think you would in such a place as that," said the colonel, as Donald turned over some small boxes. "What is it now, hide and seek, or has Gerald been losing himself?"
"I don't know," replied Rand. "We heard that Monkey Rae was going to smash the shell tonight, so we came down to catch him, but he got away from us."