“Sea Gull, ahoy!” came the hail.
“Aye! aye! what do you want with us?” bellowed back Captain Andrews, in no amiable tone.
“It’s no use your following us. If it’s the model you are after, we landed it last night while you were chasing that bait tub!”
If a bombshell had exploded in their midst the party on the Sea Gull could not have felt a deeper sense of consternation. The long chase had been for nothing then, and, as Jack had put it, they had indeed been pursuing a “will o’ the wisp.”
CHAPTER XXIV—JACK’S TRIUMPH
Jack was the first to recover from the shock.
“I don’t believe it,” he declared stoutly.
“It would have been like their knavery to pull off just such a trick, though,” struck in Tom; “what do you think, captain?”
“Just this, that a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush,” declared the stout old seaman. “Maybe they did land the model in the night; but in that case what are they doing away down the coast? And again, even if they did land it, I propose to keep on their heels till we bring them to justice.”
The seaman’s words put new heart into the boys, and instead of slackening in their pursuit, they kept up the Sea Gull’s speed which, do what they could, was slightly slower than the speedy Tarpon’s. About an hour after the hail from the Tarpon’s after-deck had come, the craft ahead suddenly changed her course.