ght to be examined."

"Go in with the boat, Mr. Cummings!" ordered Captain Stephens. "It'll
keep you overnight. As for me, I don't dare risk the tide-rips between
these rocks and that big island over there--which must be Ugak Island, I
suspect. I'm going to drop back and go outside that island, and
to-morrow I'll meet you thirty miles up the coast. Comb out the bay! If
the boys have left the village they've very likely sailed for the
opposite point of this bay, and maybe you'll get word of them at one
place or the other."

XXXIII

SAVED!

It was a night of anxiety and expectation on the _Bennington_, and, as
the cutter swung at anchor north of the bold and dangerous point of Ugak
Island, every one on board was astir at early dawn.

"Boat on the larboard bow, sir!" reported an ensign, soon after Captain
Stephens was known to be awake in his cabin.

"What boat is it?" inquired the latter, eagerly, throwing open the
dead-light of his room and gazing out along the shore.

"It's our boat, sir, with Lieutenant Cummings."

"Any passengers aboard?"

"I'm afraid not, sir."

The captain slammed shut the dead-light and turned moodily to his desk.
He did not seem to enjoy the breakfast which one of the cook's men
presently brought to him.

"Tell Lieutenant Cummings to report as soon as he comes aboard," he
commanded.

Lieutenant Cummings, however, far from being discouraged, was much
elated when he appeared, smiling, at the captain's door.

"They slept at the village, sir," he said. "Five persons in all.
Everybody's gone from the village but one or two old people, and these
report that the boys came in there for water and to see what news they
could get. They had a young native boy with them and a full-grown Aleut.
They put him in irons--"

"Put him in irons!" roared Captain Stephens. "God bless my soul! Those
young rascals will be sending out to look after _us_ before long!
Sailors!--and they've got a man in _irons_!"

"They say the Aleut was afraid to go to town," resumed the lieutenant,
"and tried to escape. They halted him and kept him under guard all
night. The five of them left yesterday about noon, and as they were seen
not far from the mouth of the bay toward evening, they're very likely
camped not far around the point yonder, sir."

"Get under way!" ordered Captain Stephens. "I've got a little
professional pride about this thing, and I don't want those youngsters
to beat the _Bennington_ into