With occasional help and the aid of a stick which Jo cut to a proper length and fashioned in the form of a crutch, Juarez was able to get back to the boat with comparative ease, and they were soon rowing toward the yacht.
Arriving on board they found that the steward had not yet returned.
“A good thing for him,” asserted Tom. An opinion which no one could gainsay.
“Now, boys,” advised the professor when a late supper had been eaten and a short consultation had been held, “you had better get off to your bunks. Even if you don’t feel inclined to sleep, you will get some needed rest, and that is important, as we are likely to have a hard day’s work ahead of us for to-morrow.”
CHAPTER XXIII.
THE CHIEF OF RARIHUE.
Before dawn of the next morning the party were all on deck ready for a start as soon as it was light enough to see their way through the woods. Hardly had they assembled, however, when there came one of those sudden terrific storms which are so frequent in the southern seas. The downpour lasted about a half hour to the regret of Jo and Tom, who had hoped to readily strike and follow the trail of Jim and his captors. Some other plan would now be necessary.
“I think,” said the professor, who, in the absence of Jim, had tacitly assumed the leadership, “that we had better go prepared for an overnight stay.”