ut, all the same," he
went on, "if we get a chance to get possession of the boat, we'll let
these outlaws take a swim to the shore!"

Presently the boat came under the shelter of the headland, and then a
member of the crew, in obedience to whispered orders from Jamison,
dropped into the dinghy which had been trailing behind, and shouted to
his mate to follow. Then Jamison himself stepped into the dinghy, which
was swinging about wildly in the surf.

"Now boys," he said, "if you'll get aboard, we'll take you ashore for an
interview with the doctor. He'll demand big pay, but he's skillful and
you ought to secure his services if you can."

"Only one man on board now," cried Tommy, "Now's our chance!"

CHAPTER IX

THE CLUES WILL FOUND

"I wish one of you boys would give me a good swift kick," George
exclaimed as the three lads stood in the cabin discussing the strange
disappearance of Bert Calkins.

"I'd do that all right if it would accomplish anything!" laughed Will.

"I'll do it anyhow, if you insist upon it!" grinned Sandy.

"It was a rotten thing for me to do!" exclaimed George. "I never
expected to go to sleep when I lay down in my bunk, but I did go to
sleep, and some one walked into the cabin and carried Bert away! I'll
never get over it if anything serious happens to him!"

"Aw, cut it out!" exclaimed Sandy. "We'll find him all right. The
question before the house right now is whether we're going to get supper
before we start out on a hunt for the kid."

"We may as well get supper," Will advised. "There's no use whatever of
our running around in circles in the dark. We've got to sit down here
and reason it out. Before we do anything at all, we ought to reach some
conclusion as to why the poor kid was taken away."

"Why, I thought that was all understood," Sandy interrupted. "I thought
we decided not long ago that the man who stole the code wireless came
back to get Bert to translate it for him."

"There was some talk of that kind," Will agreed, "and I guess it's as
near to the truth as we can get with our present knowledge of the
incident. Anyway, I can conceive of no other reason for the abduction."

"Then we may as well get supper while we're studying out the
proposition," George said, "and, by way of penance, I'll do the
cooking!"

The lad turned to Sandy to ask a question regarding the sudden
appearance of the bear steak, and then for the first time noted his
dilapidated and generally