y.

"Show me!" observed the patrol leader, quickly moving his head so that
it came alongside that of his chum, whose hand was extended, with the
quivering forefinger pointing almost in a line with the nearest of all
the vessels.

"There, watch when the wave rises again, and you'll--there, did you get
it, Ned?"

"Yes, and as you say, it was a boat with several men in the same,"
replied the other scout, hastily; "and more than that, they seem to be
heading straight for this old wreck. You see, they're coming down the
coast, and as like as not, they've rowed all the way from the river."

"Could they do it on the bay?" asked Jack, dubiously.

"I don't see any reason against it, if they happen to have strong enough
muscles, and know how to manage a boat on the big waves," Ned went on to
say.

"But hadn't we better tell the rest?" asked Jack. "If we're going to get
a side wipe, it might be as well for all of us to be ready to meet the
rascals when they try to get aboard from their boat."

"Yes, let two stay to watch the break in the stern--the Cree and Frank
might handle that end of the business--bring the rest here with you,
Jack. I'll try and keep tabs of the boat, while you're gone."

"Be back in a jiffy, Ned," and with that Jack shot away.

He could not have taken much time to tell the others what they were
wanted for, because he quickly appeared again at Ned's elbow, bringing
Jimmy, Teddy and Francois along with him.

"What's the matter, Ned?" asked the first named, as he looked all about
him, evidently half expecting that he would see the head of a "boarder"
rising into view over the gunwale of the wreck.

"Jack discovered a boat coming in, and we think it must hold several of
our enemies," the other told them. "Look where I point and you'll see it
rising on the next roller."

Immediately exclamations of astonishment announced that the others had
sighted the alarming spectacle.

"They're expecting to take us by surprise, because we'd never think of
standing guard along that side of the old tub," Jimmy declared as his
opinion.

"It wasn't such a bad scheme, either," added Teddy. "Only for that man
sneezing when he shouldn't, neither of you two might have discovered the
boat."

"That's as true as anything you ever said, old man," assented Jack, who
never wanted to claim honors he had not fairly won. "But you know it's
the old Black Bear and Wolf luck.

"We're always running slap up against the greates