Jerry turned his head very quickly now, forgetting for the instant his desire to make a prisoner of Elias Macomber. "What do you think can have happened?" he asked, and I replied impatiently: "That we shall only find out by boarding her. Come to the beach at once!" "But what about our work here?" and now it was the pungy that went from his mind, leaving there only the great desire to accomplish the purpose for which he had come. "Never mind that now! It may be we won't want to fool around here on his account! Come quickly, Jerry, for she was close at hand before I started!" It was actually necessary to shake the lad before I could arouse him to a full sense of the situation; but once that had been done, he followed me readily enough, even urging that I move faster. The pungy was no more than half a mile away when we reached the shore, and we launched the canoe without delay, paddling straight out in her course. As she came up I could see Darius at the tiller, with Jim beside him, and the other two fellows lounging forward. Nothing had happened to the crew, that much seemed certain, and I was at my wits' end to account for the Avenger being apparently heading for home. When we were come within hailing distance I shouted, never thinking that I might be heard by those on the Jenkins plantation: "Why are you coming back? What has happened?" "Where is Bill Jepson?" Darius cried. "With the fleet." "When did you leave him?" "Yesterday. What is the matter?" "Come aboard an' I'll tell you," the old man replied as he threw the pungy up into the wind, and we did not waste many seconds in going over the rail. "Now what is it?" I asked impatiently when I stood facing Darius. "The Britishers are gettin' under way, an' it kind'er looked as if the oyster business wouldn't be any good after they'd left moorin's. If there'd been any wind, you'd be seein' 'em by this time. What brought you ashore at Hog Point?" "Elias Macomber is there, living with Jenkins the planter. We stopped on our way up thinking to get some provisions, and not only saw the cur, but heard him say he was waiting for the Britishers, to whom he could give a lot of information." While I had been speaking Darius brought the pungy into the wind again, and she was standing directly away from the man we had been so eager to capture. "Here!" Jerry cried sharply. "You must heave to till we get that villain." "How many people do you reckon are in the house?" Darius asked as he twisted off a large piece of tobacco. "We've only seen Macomber and Jenkins." "Don't know anythin' more about the situation?" "We haven't had time to learn anything more; but it don't stand to reason there are other men." "They've both of 'em got wives, who'd fight if it come to a pinch. No, lads, the best you could count on in the way of time would be a full day, an' we can't afford to waste an hour." "But it wouldn't be wastin' time if we finally caught him," Jerry cried hotly.