heir sculls led me to think that all was not right.

"What have you seen, that should thus put two brave youths to flight?"
said I.

Then they told me what had brought them back so soon. I had heard the
sound of the two guns which they had fired off, but no more. I told
them I thought their ears must be at fault, and that the sounds they
had heard were no more than those of their own guns, which the hills had
sent back through the air. This view of the case did not at all please
them, as by this time they well knew what sounds their guns made.

"It will be a strange thing," said I, "if the hope to which I have so
long clung should at last come to be a fact; but we must have a care
that we do not hail a ship the crew of which may rob and kill us for the
sake of our wealth. I feel that we have as much cause to dread a foe as
we have grounds of hope that we may meet with friends."

Our first course was to make the cave quite safe, and then to mount
guard where we could see a ship if one should come near the coast. That
night the rain came down in a flood, and a storm broke over us, and we
were thus kept in doors for two days and two nights.

On the third day I set out with Jack to Shark Isle, with a view to seek
for the strange ship which he said he knew must be in some place not
far from the coast. I went to the top of a high rock, but though my eye
swept the sea for miles round, I could see no signs of a sail. I then
made Jack fire three more shots, to try if they would give the same
sound as the two boys had heard. You may judge how I felt, when I heard
one! two! three! boom through the air.

There was now no room for doubt that, though I could not see it, there
must be a ship near Shark's Isle. Jack heard me say this with great
glee, and cried out, "What can we now do to find it?"

We had brought a flag with us, and I told Jack to haul this up twice to
the top of the staff, by means of which sign those who saw it would know
that we had good news to tell them.

I then left Jack on the fort with the guns, and told him to fire as soon
as a ship hove in sight. I bent my way at once back to Rock House, to
talk with my wife, Jane, and the boys, as to what steps we should now
take. They all met me on the beach, and made me tell them the news while
I was still in the boat.

"We know no more," said I, "than the fact that there is still a ship
on the coast. You must all now keep in doors, while Fritz and I go in
search