ts are
still up there. It is no flagpole."

"Right again, Morgan," agreed Mr. MacMasters.

"And that piece of a letter to Linder," the boy eagerly reminded him.
"Don't you think with me, sir, that the old woman is linked up with the
German spy system?"

"It seems reasonable. At least, I shall make a report as soon as we get
away from the island. And the old woman should be watched, too."

"Indeed she should!" cried Whistler. "What do you suppose she meant, Mr.
MacMasters, about our _Kennebunk_ being sunk?"

"The speech was fathered by the wish, perhaps."

"But she seemed so certain--so assured," murmured Whistler.

He was not satisfied by this explanation of Mr. MacMasters, and was
silent all the way back to Mag's cabin. They came in sight of the place
just as the men poured out of the cabin in great excitement.

"What do you suppose is the matter with them now?" demanded the ensign.

But he spied the cause of the excitement as soon as Whistler did.
Crossing the sound was a swift revenue cutter, and one of the seamen,
under direction from Mr. Mudge, leaped upon a bowlder and began to
signal, semaphore fashion.

The signals were returned and the cutter swung in shoreward and soon
dropped a boat for the castaways. The shipwrecked seamen from the
_Kennebunk_ swarmed down to the strand.

Mr. MacMasters whispered to Whistler that they would have their
breakfast aboard the Coast Guard boat. Then he went to the scowling old
woman who, after all, had been a most hospitable hostess. Some of the
sailors had given her money in small sums; but the ensign forced her to
accept an amount that he thought generous payment for what she had done
for them, and Mag seemed to agree.

"Yo' Yankees air free-handed already," she drawled. "But that won't save
you, Mr. Officer, from the trouble that's heaped up for you-uns."

"What is the nature of this trouble?" asked the ensign curiously.

"Death an' destruction," said the old woman. "Death and destruction. Yo'
fine big ship, the _Kennebunk_ ship, will be blowed sky-high. It's a
comin'! Mark Old Mag's prophecy, Mr. Officer."

"We shall all have to go on and do our duty just the same, Mag," said
Mr. MacMasters, seriously. "And if a sailor does his duty, he's done his
all. The rest is in God's hands."

"Don't blaspheme, Mr. Yankee!" warned the old woman. "The Lawd ain't
studyin' 'bout he'pin' you-uns none. He's on the other side already."

The boat from the cutter had to retur