of springs from the way you're always jumping
about," remarked Uncle Toby, with a smile, "but I suppose it's boy
nature."

The run to the shore was made quickly. It seemed almost no time at all
before they made out the string of lights that marked the pier and the
radiance of the brilliantly lit hotel behind them. But as they were
landing an unforeseen accident occurred. Mistaking his distance in the
darkness, the captain neglected to shut off power soon enough, and the
nose of the _Skipjack_ bumped into the pier with great force. At the
same time a splintering of wood was heard.

"Gracious, another wreck," exclaimed Jack.

"Wow! What a bump!" cried Noddy.

"Is it a bad smash?" asked Billy anxiously.

The captain was bending over the broken prow of the boat examining it by
the white lantern.

"Bad enough to keep us here all night, I'm afraid," he said. "Do you
boys mind? It looks to me as if it could soon be repaired in the
morning, and the boat will be safe here to-night at any rate."

"It's too bad," exclaimed Jack. "We seem to be regular hoodoos on a
boat."

"It was my own fault," said the captain, "but the lights on the pier
dazzled me so that I miscalculated my distance."

"Well, it's a good thing no other harm was done," was Billy's comment.

The boat was tied up and the watchman on the dock given some money to
keep an eye on it. They engaged rooms at the hotel, and while Captain
Simms composed his telegram, the boys took a stroll about the grounds of
the hostelry, which sloped down to the bay. They had about passed beyond
the radiance of the lights of the hotel when Jack suddenly drew his
companions' attention to a figure that was stealing through the darkness
hugging a grove of trees. There was something indescribably furtive in
the way the man crept along, half crouched and glanced behind him from
time to time.

"A burglar?" questioned Billy.

"Some sort of crook I'll bet," exclaimed Noddy.

"He's up to some mischief or I'm much mistaken," said Jack, as he drew
his companions back further into a patch of black shadow cast by some
ornamental shrubs.

"Let's trail him and see what he's up to," said Noddy.

"Gracious, you're a regular Sherlock Holmes at the drop of the hat,"
laughed Billy. "What do you think, Jack?"

"I don't know. He's going toward the wharf and I don't see just what he
could steal there."

"Look at him stop and glance all around him as if he was afraid of being
followed,"