The yacht was not more than a mile outside the harbor, and Mr. Bangwell
was just informing Will Rogers that the course for Newport was east by
south half south, when the former noticed a dingy-looking schooner
approaching them from dead ahead. Without drawing attention to her, he
exclaimed:

"By-the-way, boys, breakfast is ready in the cabin, so just tumble down
and pitch in without waiting for me. I'll steer till one of you can come
up and take the wheel."

The Rangers having quenched their thirst immediately on getting aboard,
were feeling more than ever hungry, and so needed no second invitation
to breakfast. Thus in another minute Mr. Bangwell had the deck to
himself. With a muttered excuse for so doing, which the boys only heard
indistinctly and heeded not at all, he drew the companion-hatch and
closed the cabin doors. Then he lashed the wheel in a certain position,
cast loose the painter of the gig, slipped into the boat, and rowed
rapidly away toward the on-coming schooner, leaving the yacht to take
care of herself.

CHAPTER X.

CAPTURED BY A MAN-OF-WAR.

The breakfast that the boys found awaiting them was not particularly
inviting, as it consisted principally of a big pot of muddy coffee, a
pan of hardtack, and a dish of cold bacon. Still, they were too hungry
to be dainty, and so pitched into it, with a right good-will.

"My! I should think he had stripped her," said Hal Bacon, gazing about
the dismantled cabin. "It's a shame, too. The idea of carrying lumber in
such a fine craft as this!"

"Yes. Isn't she a beauty?" cried Cracker Bob Jones, admiringly. "I'd
like to cruise in her for a month. If Captain Crotty isn't ready for us,
suppose we offer to help bring her back to the island again."

"I wouldn't mind taking a cruise in her," acknowledged Will Rogers, "if
only Captain Crotty or some other first-class sailor was in charge, but
somehow I can't wholly trust this Mr.--"

"Oh, pshaw, Will!" cried Mif Bowers. "If you aren't the most suspicious
chap I ever knew. The man is trusting us, and I don't see why we
shouldn't trust him. Besides, what could he do, anyhow, against so many
of us? Why, we could take possession of this yacht and run away with her
if we wanted to."

"Who'd sail her if we did?" asked Will, laughing at the idea of his
Rangers turning pirates in that way.

"Why, we would, of course. I rather guess we know enough by this time,
after all the experience we've had, to sail a boa