“No,” said Adam, “we can’t do that, but I’ve a plan in my head. Before we git to Jupiter light, the water is so deep near the coast that steamers often run in very close. Now, if the captain would lie-to there and send you fellers and me ashore in a boat, it would be the best thing he could do for us.” “What would we do when we got there?” asked the boys. “Do?” said Adam. “Why we’d all go North, and lose no time about it, instead of goin’ over to the Bahamas and stayin’ there, I don’t know how long, and then takin’ a week for the home trip. Just back of the coast-line, down there, is the Indian River, and sometimes it’s not much more’n a stone’s throw from the beach. If we could be landed, we could easily git over to that, and there we’d find a craft to take us up to Titusville, and from that place we’d easy git over to the St. John’s River, and then you boys could telegraph home. I’ve travelled all through that part of Florida, and I could take you along as straight as a bee-line. There are settlements here and there on the Indian River, and you needn’t be afraid but we’ll be taken good care of till we git to Titusville. After that it’ll be all plain sailin’.” “I’d like that plan first-rate,” said Chap. “And so would I!” cried both of the other boys. “But do you think the captain would stop,” asked Phil, “and put us off?” “That’s what’s got to be found out,” said Adam. “If I was you fellers I’d just go to him and ask about it. Lay the p’ints before him strong, and let him know how much you want to send word to your friends where you are, and then to git along home as quick as possible. Tell him I’ll go along with you and pilot you through all straight.” The boys agreed that this plan was a capital one, and, after a little consultation, they decided to go and talk to the captain about it, and make Phil the spokesman. At first, the captain did not take very kindly to the proposition. He did not wish to lose time, nor to incur the trouble and risk of sending a boat on shore. He also knew that a great part of the coast of Florida was nothing but a barren waste, and he did not think it would be any great kindness to the persons he had saved from drowning to put them on shore to suffer from exposure and privation. But, on the other hand, if the boys were landed in Florida, they would be at least in their own country, and ought to be able to communicate with their friends much sooner than if he took them along with him to the foreign islands to which he was bound. “You would need money,” he said, “after you get ashore, for you couldn’t expect the people there to take care of you, and carry you about free of charge; and, although I am willing to give you a berth here, I can’t supply you with cash for a land trip.” “I have some money,” said Phil, “though not very much.” “And I’ve got----” said Chap, thrusting his hands into his pocket. “Oh, there’s plenty of money,” interrupted Phœnix. “There need be no trouble about that.”