you kindly go forward and see how the men are coming on
with that caulking?"

It was a very different voice from the one he had used when Ruth, Alice
and the others had been unseen listeners.

"What about the mainmast?" asked Sailor Jack. "It's sprung, as I told
you it was, and unless those stays----"

"I'll look after that!" interrupted the captain. "You do as I tell you,
and leave that mast to me."

"But you said that it didn't need--" persisted the second mate.

"Never you mind what I said!" and the commander's voice was harsh. "I'll
look after that. Now you go forward!"

It was more in the nature of a command than is usual between captain
and mate. The girls felt this, as well as did the boys. But they said
nothing.

"Come along and see how we are progressing," continued Captain Brisco in
more genial tones, as Jack Jepson left the cabin.

"Then you are going to be ready in time?" asked Paul.

"Ahead of time," said the commander, boastfully.

"That's good!" exclaimed Russ. "Mr. Pertell is anxious not to be
delayed."

"He won't be on _my_ account," Captain Brisco assured the young
operator. "A few more details, and we'll be ready for sea. About time,
too, for this good weather won't hold any too long down among those West
Indian islands."

"Oh, are we going there?" asked Alice. "That will be delightful!"

"I thought we were to go only to Florida," Ruth remarked.

"There has been a slight change in the plans," the captain said. "Mr.
Pertell and I decided on it. I believe it is not generally known yet,
but there is no secret about it. I told him he could get better results
by going a little farther south than merely along the Florida coast,
down toward some of the West Indies, and he agreed with me."

"The West Indies," mused Alice as she followed the others about the
refinished schooner. "I wonder if we will get near the 'Hole in the
Wall' that Jack told about? I'd like to see it, but I suppose a hole in
the water is a pretty hard thing to find."

Alice wondered whether she would see the old sailor before they went
ashore again. She had taken quite a fancy to him, as had Ruth, and the
old salt, on his part, seemed to like the moving picture girls more than
any other members of the Comet Film Company.

"I wonder what he was doing all alone there in the cabin?" mused Alice
as she hung back a little while the others were examining some changes
that had been made in the dining-cabin. "It seemed as thou