e. Do you want to cast off our line now?"

"Yes," flashed back Joe, after consulting Captain Halstead. "And our
greatest, heartiest thanks for your fine work for us."

There was further interchange of courtesies, then the line was cast
off as soon as Joe and Hank had started the twin motors going on the
little that was left of the gasoline. There was no way, or need, to
settle the liner's towing charges now. These could be collected later,
for the "Restless" was a boat registered by the United States
authorities. She could be found and libeled anywhere if her young
owners failed to settle.

"Hooray! But doesn't it feel great to be moving under one's own power
again!" chortled Captain Tom, as he felt the vibration of the
propellers and swung the steering wheel.

Though the coast had been visible from daylight, the town of Mocalee
was not in sight until the boat neared the mouth of a river. Up this
stream, half a mile, nestled a quaint little Florida town, where, as
one of the natives afterwards expressed it to Joe, "we live on fish in
summer and sick Yankees in winter."

"We'd better get on shore, all hands, and stretch our legs," proposed
Powell Seaton, after Skipper Tom had made the "Restless" fast at the
one sizable dock of the town. "I see a hotel over yonder. I invite you
all to be my guests at breakfast--on a floor that won't rock!"

"I'll stay aboard, then, to look after the boat," volunteered Hepton.
"And you can rely on me to keep a mighty sharp eye on that man,
Jasper," he added, in Halstead's ear.

It was after seven o'clock in the morning when the shore party from
the "Restless," after strolling about a little, turned toward the
hotel.

As they passed through a corridor on the way to the office Tom
Halstead glanced at a red leather bag that was being brought
downstairs by a negro bell-boy.

"Do you see the bag that servant has?" asked Tom, in a whisper, as he
clutched Powell Seaton's arm. "Scar on the side, and all, I'd know
that bag anywhere. It's the one Anson Dalton brought over the side
when he boarded the 'Restless' from the 'Constant'!"

CHAPTER XXII

TOM HALSTEAD SPRINGS THE CLIMAX

"Can that fellow be here?" demanded Powell Seaton, his lips
twitching.

"He must be--or else he has sent someone else with his baggage," Tom
Halstead answered, in an undertone.

None of the party had paused, but had passed on into the office.

"We've got to know," whispered Powell Seaton, tremulo