r, as quietly as though the island were deserted.

It was about two hours after sunrise that Jeremy stole out to give
fodder to the sheep, penned in the stockade ever since the first alarm.
He had been gone a bare two minutes when he rushed back into the cabin.

"Look father," he cried. "In the bay--there's a sloop coming in to
anchor!"

Amos Swan went to a northern loophole, and peered forth. "What is she?
Can ye make her out? Seems to fly the British Jack all right," he said.
Following the two boys, he hurried outside. Jeremy had run down the hill
to the beach where he stood, gazing intently at the craft, and shading
his eyes with his hand. After a moment he turned excitedly. "Father," he
shouted, "it's the _Tiger!_ I saw her only once, but I'd not forget
those fine lines of her. Look--there's Job, himself, getting into the
cutter!"

A big man in a blue cloak had just stepped into the stern sheets of the
boat, and seeing the figures on the shore, he now waved a hand in their
direction.

Sure enough, in three minutes Captain Job Howland jumped out upon the
sand and with a roar of greeting caught Jeremy's hand in his big fist.
"Well, lad," he laughed, "ye look glad to see us. Didn't know we was
headed up this way, did ye? But here we be! Soon as the sloop was ready
Mr. Curtis had a light cargo for Boston town, and he told me to coast up
here on the same trip. He wants Bob home again. Why--what ails ye, boy?"

They were climbing the path toward the shack, when Job noticed the
downcast look on Jeremy's face, and interrupted himself.

In a few words the boy told what had happened during the brief week they
had been on the island.

"By the Great Bull Whale!" muttered the ex-buccaneer in astonishment.
"Sol Brig's treasure, sure enough! And that devil, Daggs--see here, if
Bob's alive, we've got to get him out of that!" He swung about and
hailed the boat's crew, all six of whom had remained on the beach.

"Adams, and you, Mason, pull back to the sloop and bring off all the men
in the port watch, with their cutlasses and small-arms. The rest of you
come up here."

As soon as Job had shaken hands with Jeremy's father and brother, they
entered the cabin.

"Now, Jeremy," said the skipper, "you say this craft is careened on the
other side of the island, close to the place where Stede Bonnet landed
us that time? How many men have they?"

"We don't know," the boy replied. "But I don't think Daggs had time to
gather a b