cied security.

What could it mean?

CHAPTER XXVII.

IN WHICH CLIF MEETS WITH A SURPRISE.

They were now in a perilous position.

They could not return to the flagship, and at any moment the Spaniards,
finding they were not pursued, might pluck up courage to seek them out
and try conclusions with them once more. If they should find them on
that narrow strip of beach the story of the conflict might be a
different one.

And then the disappearance of the boat itself pointed to enemies they
had not counted upon. Who could have found and taken it?

"Well, now we're in a pretty pickle," exclaimed Clif, when he became
satisfied that the boat had really been taken.

"Perhaps, sir, this is not the place where we left it," ventured one of
the men, catching at that faint hope.

"I wish you were right," said Clif, "but there's no doubt about it. The
boat has been taken."

"There's no doubt of it," the men echoed. "The boat is gone."

But to make assurance doubly sure, they searched the beach under Clif's
direction, examining every clump of bushes that was large enough to
conceal the boat. But the result was a foregone conclusion. The boat was
gone.

"Now what's to be done, sir?" asked one of the men.

What, indeed!

"Something's got to be done," said Clif, with determination. "We've got
to get off this island before daybreak. It's easy to dodge the
Spaniards in the darkness, but entirely a different matter by day.
Besides, we seem to have enemies down here as well as back there on the
hill."

He was scanning the water earnestly as he spoke. It was time, he knew,
for the flagship to return to her position opposite that point, and
await the return of Clif and his crew.

Was she there?

He could not tell. The face of the moon was again obscured by clouds as
it had been most of the night, and it was impossible for Clif to discern
any object at a distance across the water.

He strained his eyes trying to catch a glimpse of the ship they had left
not many hours ago, but the thought occurred to him, "What good will it
do if I do see her?"

But even as he looked the sky suddenly brightened in a tiny spot out to
sea. A long pencil of light shot up from the water, and a cloud was
tinged with a speck of dull white light.

"It's the New York!" cried Clif. "The signal of her searchlight to
return."

They watched that tiny beam of light as though there was hope of succor
in its rays, until it suddenly disapp