"Light bother them. They git in the dark and see us from the shore. Then
they shoot this way some."

"Jupiter and Mars!" gasped Professor Scotch, "I don't care to stay here,
and have them shoot at me!"

"White boys want to save girl?" asked Socato, swiftly. "They pay to get
her free? What say?"

"Of course we will pay," hastily answered Frank. "Can you aid us in
saving her? If you can, you shall be----"

"Socato save her. White man and two boys go back to cabin of Great White
Phantom. Stay there, and Socato come with the girl."

"Begorra! Oi don't loike thot," declared Barney. "Oi'd loike to take a
hand in th' rescue mesilf."

"Socato can do better alone," asserted the Seminole. "Trust me."

But Frank was not inclined to desert Elsie Bellwood in her hour of
trouble, and he said:

"Socato, you must take me with you. Professor, you and Barney go back to
the hut, and stay there till we come."

The Indian hesitated, and then said:

"If white boy can shoot so well with the bow and arrow, he may not be in
the way. I will take him, if he can step from one canoe to the other
without upsetting either."

"That's easy," said Frank, as he deliberately and safely accomplished
the feat.

CHAPTER XXXI.

YOUNG IN YEARS ONLY.

"Well done, white boy," complimented the strange Indian.

"Pass me one of those rifles," requested Frank.

"White boy better leave rifle; take bow and arrows," advised Socato.
"Rifle make noise; bow and arrow make no noise."

"All right; what you say goes. Return to the hut, Barney, and stay there
till we show up."

"But th' spook----"

"Hang the spook! We'll know where to find you, if you go there."

"The Great White Phantom will not harm those who offer him no harm,"
declared the Indian.

"I am not so afraid of spooks as I am of---- Jumping Jupiter!"

There was a flash of fire from the darkness on shore, the report of a
gun, and a bullet whirred through the air, cutting the professor's
speech short, and causing him to duck down into the canoe.

"Those fellows have located us," said Frank, swiftly. "We must get away
immediately. Remember, wait at the hut."

Socato's paddle dropped without a sound into the water, and the canoe
slid away into the night.

The professor and Barney lost no time in moving, and it was well they
did so, for, a few seconds later, another shot came from the shore, and
the bullet skipped along the water just where the canoes had been.

Frank trus