er the circumstances, that what you did was perfectly
justifiable. At any rate, we shall not have to wait for this person to
come and take us out. But where was the person to whom he was sending
signals? You did not see him, Captain?"

"No, indeed, and I wonder that my man on deck did not see them. Asleep,
I'll warrant. That means loss of shore liberty to him for some time. The
other fellow was not here, of course. How could he get in?"

"I believe there is a way, sir," spoke up Jack, "and that this place is
used as a retreat for smugglers. If not just here, then some part of the
island. How about the calf we saw? I thought at the time that there were
people here, but did not think of smugglers."

"Why, I guess you've been reading about Captain Kidd and Blackbeard and
those old pirates, and have got your head full of secret lairs and all
that sort of stuff."

"Oh, no," smiled Jack in reply, "but evil men hide in woods and mountains
and all sorts of odd places as much now as they did in the old days. There
is just as much of this in modern times as there was in the old, but it is
accompanied with greater danger."

"Yes, I reckon it is. At any rate, I'd like to get hold of these rascals.
There'll be a pretty big reward for them, I fancy."

The boys left the cabin and during the afternoon Jack, Dick and young
Smith set out for a stroll over the island, taking one of the paths
already made, so as not to subject the younger boy to too much trouble.

"I hardly think these smugglers are on the island," said Jack, as they
walked on, "or, at least, I don't think that they got in through the
reefs. They could have landed on the other side, although there are many
difficulties connected with it, not to say dangers. You remember the
rocks, Dick? And there is a good deal of surf there also. One would need
to be careful in making it. A vessel could lie to, of course, while boats
landed the men, and that has probably been done."

"Yes, I suppose so," said Percival carelessly, thinking of other things at
the moment, and not paying much attention.

The boys walked on without paying much attention to where they were going,
young Smith being greatly pleased at being with the older boys, but at
length Jack stopped, looked around him, and said with the least bit of
alarm in his tone:

"H'm! I believe we are where Billy was treed by the calf the other day or
pretty near it, at any rate. We thought there might be people in the
neig