here aren't any pirates any more. Especially on the
_Seamew_. Believe me, we've been knocking at the wrong door."

"Looks like it to me," assented Mart. "Let's just forget the whole
thing, Holly, and call it square. I guess there's no doubt that poor
Liverpool fell overboard, either. But if Jerry got that dynamite put
aboard to kill the Pirate Shark, I see where we're going to have some
fun, Holly!"

"Say, that's right!" Bob sat up suddenly, looking at Mart. Then they
both grinned.

"We'll let your dad get off after his tigers, an' when he gets back
we'll have some surprising news for him, eh?"

"You bet!" agreed Bob, chortling.

But if Mart had been able to look into the future, he would hardly have
greeted the prospect with such unalloyed delight. For old Jerry Smith
was not quite so crazy as he was credited with being.

CHAPTER VIII

KUALA BESUT

"Land ho!"

Early one morning the two magic words had thrilled the _Seamew_, and
since breakfast the two boys had been perched on the upper bridge with
their binoculars. They were different from the pair that had left San
Francisco, weeks before; sun and salt wind had tanned them,
self-confidence and energy had filled their hearts, and Mart in
particular had gained an added air of resoluteness that became his
strong features well.

And they had met with strange sights--unwieldy Chinese junks with
matting sails, island trading schooners, slimmer craft containing
natives, and even immense canoes which came from distant islands with
fish and fruit to barter at sight of the yacht's smoke.

But now Asia itself lay before them--and the most uncivilized part of
Asia, which nevertheless was held by the flag of England. They had
passed the Redang Islands, and were now standing in for the wide river
mouth which denoted their goal, Kuala Besut. On the right lay a low,
palm-grown island some two miles long, which Jerry Smith declared
uninhabited, as it was often awash at the rainy season. Directly ahead
of them, the harbor deepened in to meet the river, and to right and left
the long lagoons slowly opened out.

"By juniper!" exclaimed Bob delightedly, as the captain and Jerry joined
them. "Let's you and me run over to that island some time, Mart! I'll
bet we'd pick up some great old shells there!"

"That you would, lads," said the quartermaster, wagging his white hair
in the breeze. "There be some fine shells hereabouts! Cap'n, we'd best
not run up the river."