e ribs, when Hugh restrained him.

"Let him sleep, Alec," he whispered. "Poor old Injun, he's comfortable
at last!"

"So am I," added Chester, stretching himself out on the warm sand.
"This is better than those stuffy little bunks in the cabin, isn't it?"

The next minute he regretted those words, for Captain Vinton looked
at him with an aggrieved expression, as if peeved to hear any
disparagement of the _Arrow_. The good captain was inordinately
proud of his sloop, which he preferred to all other craft; indeed,
had he been offered the command of one of the gigantic Atlantic
liners, it is likely that he would have declined the honor.

Presently Vinton rose and, beginning to stroll up and down the beach,
looked all around him and up at the sky in the scrutinizing way which
seafaring men have when they retire for the night or turn out in the
morning, to ascertain what sort of weather they may expect.

Overhead, he saw large masses of clouds scudding across the starry
heavens, driven by the wind which bid fair to continue all night and
all the next day. Off on the lagoon loomed the dark hulk and slender
mast of the sloop, rising and falling on the choppy waves, her bow
light gleaming across the water like a watchful eye. At his feet
lay the dory, drawn up on the sand and moored by a line fastened
to a palmetto, well out of reach of the rising tide.

Behind him sparkled the ruddy camp fire with the recumbent figures
of the five scouts, Norton and the Indian grouped around it, and
nearby lay the neat little pile of provisions and utensils covered
with a tarpaulin. What matter if rain should chance to fall during
the night? They had brought light blankets and rubber ponchos from
the sloop, so they would be well protected.

Everything was safe and in order; he was satisfied and at peace with
all mankind,---even with the smugglers who had roused his righteous
wrath,---and his youthful companions were happy, enjoying the cruise
and their adventures.

So unpromising did the weather beyond the keys look, and so congenial
seemed the lagoon and this sheltered islet, the captain came to
the conclusion that it would not be amiss if they should linger there
a day or two longer than they had planned. After all, Alec's father
had set no time limit for the cruise and the boys were in no hurry to
return to Santario.

Thinking thus, he rejoined his crew around the fire and heard
them discussing a plan to take the dory and