"Boat? What boat?"
"Esperanza."
"Oh! Then you think they'll try to leave this part of the coast soon?"
"Dunno. Wait. We see, we tell Petrel."
There was nothing else to do, so Billy curbed his eagerness to learn the present whereabouts of the smugglers and crawled forward in silence. Once he drew back with a gasp of horror as a large moccasin snake darted across his path; but seeing the loathsome creature glide away to a safe distance, he went on, following the guide. Nevertheless, a chill ran down his spine when he thought how narrowly he had escaped stumbling full tilt upon the reptile, which, unlike the rattlesnake, never gives warning of its presence.
When they had traversed the stretch of marsh between the peninsula and the cove, alternately walking on soft springy ground above a bed of coralline limestone and wading knee-deep along the watercourse, they emerged upon the left bank of the cove. The two smaller cabins were not more than twenty paces distant, and between them was a plank bridge rudely built in the form of a trestle. Dave and Billy approached this bridge.
Suddenly they stopped short and crouched in the high grass. Plainly to their ears came the shrill barking of a dog.
Dave expressed his feelings in one round oath, which, being uttered in his native dialect, sounded to Billy "Like gargling the throat."
It needed no expletives to inform Billy that the dog's appearance on the scene of action was certain to cause trouble.
"Ketch um dog, choke um!" said Dave, looking about him to see if the barking had brought anyone to the place.