id,
coolly--as calmly as if he had been announcing that he would be taking
his supper at that time.

"If you go in the _Manhattan_," Jack said, "you won't be a prisoner
here."

"But I've got to stay here," Ned said, "and besides, the boat must not
be loaded down. She may have to make a hot run for the gunboat."

"I don't know what you're up to," Jack said, doubtfully, "but I guess
you do, so I'll do just as you say."

"What about the rockets?" asked Jimmie.

"They are to be used in signaling the gunboat," Ned replied. "She may be
a long ways off when you get out there."

When the boys at the camp had finished their supper, eaten in the
darkness, and watched the sea for signs of the ships for half an hour,
they started toward the boat. Then another shot came over the water,
followed by two more, fired in quick succession. Ned joined them
instantly, for, following the shots, the rattle of sailing gear and the
thud-thud of boxes or boards on a deck echoed over the sea.

"One of the ships is close in," Ned said. "Now we'll see if the owners
are unloading missionaries here!"

The vessel close in looked like an old-fashioned top-sail schooner;
still there was an engine and a propeller. She was a three-master, and
looked, in the uncertain light, as if she had been in service in the
East for a long time.

She glided into the harbor between the Tusks as if she knew every inch
of the channel, and brought up close to a flat surface of rock on one of
the Tusks, which formed a natural pier. Then the hatches were opened,
and shaded lanterns gleamed about the deck.

Ned glanced back over the mountain, and was astonished at seeing a green
signal light there, almost at the top. The men on the schooner saw the
signal, too, for Ned could see them pointing at it, could hear them
laughing as if a great point had been gained.

"Wonder why we didn't see that?" asked Frank. "It must have been there
when the lights showed from the ships."

"We didn't go up high enough, or it might not have been there when we
were looking," was the reply.

"Well," Frank said, then, "if we didn't see the chap who is tending that
light on the mountain, he must have seen us; or if he didn't see us he
must have heard the engine of the _Manhattan_ doing her talking stunt."

"Probably," replied Ned.

The matter was more serious than his manner indicated, for he turned
quickly and walked toward the _Manhattan_, calling out softly to Pat as
he did so