and scare off these jail birds mighty quick!"

Suddenly the distant tchug-tchug of a gasoline motor boat came to
his ears. Raising himself on his elbows, he peered over the stump,
out across the glittering blue water, and saw a good-sized dory,
manned by a solitary individual who wore light oilskins, coming
swiftly toward the hut on the beach.

"That must be the motor boat that passed our camp last night,"
thought Hugh. "I feel sure now, surer than ever, that I heard it go
by in the darkness. But it's coming over from the mainland now.
Wonder who's that man at the tiller?"

Down he sank again and waited.

Presently the motor-dory drew up alongside the strip of beach in
front of the bamboo hut and came to a standstill. The man in
oilskins called out:

"Hey! You-all in thar!"

Instantly one of the three rascals came forth from the hut.

"Hello, Durgan!" he called, not at all loudly, through his cupped
hands. "What's the news?"

"Beat it!" was Durgan's warning answer. "Thar's a campin' party on
th' island below here---I seen 'em 'bout ten minutes ago---old Cap'n
Lem Vinton, an Injun, an' four or five boys."

"Lem Vinton, eh? All right, Joe, we're going. Can you tow us
around Spider Key?"

"Nope. I'm goin' home now," Joe Durgan replied tersely, with the
abruptness of one who has done an irksome duty and would avoid further
responsibility for the present.

Suiting actions to words, he quickened his engine and made off toward
the Florida shore.

His boat had scarcely become a speck on the water, when Hugh began
to crawl back to the other side of the mound. Joe Durgan, who was
evidently not nearly so "looney" as represented, had warned the
smugglers of the presence of the _Arrow_ near their retreat, and
Hugh realized that no time should be lost if Vinton were to spread
sail and go in pursuit of them or of the _Petrel_.

"Now's the time for me to beat it, too," he resolved. "While
they're talking they won't hear me or see me, and I can hurry back
to the place where I left my coat and shoes."

When he had gone some little distance without being discovered,
he fancied he was safe and rose to his feet, intending to run
as fast as his legs could carry him---which was no snail's pace,
indeed! Scarcely had he begun to move forward, however, when he
heard a shout, followed by the sound of hurried footsteps.

Being fleet of foot and having no desire to be caught and treated
as a spy, he set off runnin