I
don't want to think it were the Flying Dutchman 'cause it's plumb bad luck
to see her, but how is a live ship going to get in here?"

"Easy enough, if she knows the way, Ben. Don't say anything about it, but
are you sure you saw something?"

"Well, I dunno, but I think I did. She was out yonder, just where you can
see the open water, and she was only there half a jiffy, as you might say.
Tom saw her, too, or I would have thought I was dreaming."

"Steamer, Ben?" asked Jack, sure now that there was something in the old
fellow's story.

"Reckon she was, though I did see something white, which gave me a creepy
feeling like as if I'd seen a apparition or something similar. Maybe she
had sail on to help her steam. Some of 'em do."

"And you saw her for a short time only!"

"Yes, sir, not half a minute nor half that even. There wasn't time to say
'Jack Robinson' twice, sir, before she was out of sight."

"Well, if she came in she can get out, and so can we, Ben. Keep this quiet
till I speak to the captain about it. It will be just as well not to have
every one know it, and have it talked about all over the vessel."

"Shouldn't wonder if it would, sir," and as Jack walked away the old
sailor continued his own passage up and down the deck.

"There are probably places to hide that we have not seen," thought the
boy, as he took a turn of the deck, and then started to go below, "and we
may not be able to see this vessel in the morning. I shall have a look for
her, nevertheless. If there is to be a bargain made and I don't see why
there should not be, unless we trade directly with lawbreakers and assist
them. That we could not do, of course, but if we hire a pilot we are not
supposed to know whether he is honest or not."

The question was a puzzling one, and Jack had not solved it when he went
below, turned in and quickly fell asleep.

In the morning, nothing having been seen of any strange vessel from the
deck of the yacht, Jack told Percival quietly what he had heard, and after
breakfast they went ashore and set out for a search for the stranger.

"If she is here," Jack said, "she is one of the smugglers, and will not
want to be seen. If we can find her it may mean that we can get out of our
strange prison."

"How are we going to find her, Jack? There are probably plenty of hiding
places about here that we don't dream of."

"I know it, Dick, but we must find them if we want to leave here. I do not
think that Sm