Anxiously Judd scanned the surface of the water to the westward. Numerous sails of all sizes were discernible as far as Point Judith, but not one of them, he was sure, could be the Sea Witch. If the burglars had gone in that direction they had already disappeared around the distant point. But to have sailed that way would have been against a strong southwest wind, necessitating constant tacking, and as fast a sailer as the sloop was, Judd was confident she had not had time enough to accomplish that feat. He therefore turned at once, and hopefully, to scan the eastern horizon. His look was but for a moment; then he exclaimed, triumphantly:
"There she is, Mr. Avery."
He pointed out a small sloop about two miles away, which was sailing due east.
"Has the captain a glass?" he then asked; "though without one I am quite positive she is the sloop," he added, quickly.
A glass was brought him, and adjusting it to his eye, he looked long and anxiously at the retreating boat.
"One, two, three, four," he counted, slowly. "Ah! yes, there is the fifth man 'way forward; and the color and rig of the vessel make it sure she is the Sea Witch."
Captain Bradley stood beside him, and at his words gave the requisite orders for the course of the tug to be changed. Fresh fuel was thrown on her fires, and with full steam on she bounded off toward the distant sloop at a high rate of speed.
[CHAPTER XVII.--BUDD'S ESCAPE.]
As Budd watched the retreating forms of the robbers, so unceremoniously abandoning him on Patience Island, he was very far from being disposed to grumble at his fate. On the other hand, he felt extremely grateful; for his condition, deplorable as it was, was a great deal better than he had expected it would be when he found he had fallen into Bagsley hands. He was, as the captain of the robber-gang had declared, alive and in good health, and he knew he could hold out until his absence should alarm Judd and send him to his rescue, even if he could not free himself. But of this latter he did not yet despair; for while lying in the yawl, waiting for the decision of the burglars as to what should be done with him, he had found he could slightly work his wrists in the cords that bound them, and he hoped, after some effort, to get them free. But lest the men should at the last moment of their departure take a notion to revisit him, he decided to make no effort in this direction until sure he was alone.
Around about him he could see the evidences of an encampment, and he quickly concluded that this had been the rendezvous of Bagsley and his companions since robbing Mr. Johnson's house on Hope Island. Their tent could not have been seen by anyone passing up or down the bay, and so they ran very little risk of discovery, while they were sufficiently near the scene of their robbery to easily communicate with their confederates, for such he now knew Wilson and the other strangers to be. But it was not until later that Budd learned that Mr. Johnson's house had been made to furnish the principal essentials of the burglars' camping outfit.