Meanwhile Fred seated himself in the room and watched the Japanese servant, who apparently ignored his presence save occasionally when he stopped and stared blankly at him for a moment and then broke into a noisy laugh.
Not many minutes had elapsed, however, before John came running back to the house.
“The captain has taken the skiff and left the island!” he said excitedly when he burst into the room.
“Oh, I guess not,” said Fred.
“But he has, I tell you. He was rowing like mad. He has taken the skiff and left us here.”
“We’ll go down to see about it,” said Fred, abruptly rising and accompanying his friend as together they ran back to the shore.
“There it is, just as I told you!” said John, when they arrived on the bluff. “The boat has gone and the captain has gone with it.”
For a moment Fred made no reply. He glanced in either direction along the shore, and then peered intently out over the water, but neither the boat nor the captain was to be seen.
“What shall we do?” demanded John. “That’s strange and I told you there’s something wrong.”
“He’ll come back again,” said Fred confidently.