Dory looked out through an opening in the bulwarks which he had arranged for the purpose. The two robbers looked as though they were worn out, for they moved with a very heavy step. But they were talking very earnestly together, as shown by their gestures; though what they said could not be heard on board of the La Motte. They were evidently discussing the change in the position of the vessel, and the discovery of the boat on the beach. The first thing they did was to haul the tender out of the surf, which was banging it on the gravel. "Wick! Wick!" shouted one of them. Then they waited some time for a reply to their hail, but none came. "Sang! Sang!" called the other of the two. "On board the La Motte!" yelled Mack, whose voice Dory recognized. They seated themselves on the rail of the boat, and continued to yell for half an hour. Then an argument seemed to be in progress between them, in which one of them frequently pointed to the woods in the direction from which they had come. Presently they rose from their seats, and walked off, following the beach by the way they had come. "Well, Dory, what does that mean?" asked the machinist, as soon as they were out of hearing. "It means that you were right, and that I was wrong," replied Dory candidly. "I should have done better if I had left the schooner where she was." "I don't say that; and if I had thought so at the time, I should have spoken. We will deal with the present situation," added the instructor. "I thought the plan would work all right, and I am disappointed," said Dory. "Those fellows believe that Sang and Wick, as they call them, have gone ashore in the boat, and they have started to look for them. My strategy has failed, and I am disgusted with it." "What shall we do? That is the question now," suggested the machinist. "I don't like to go back to Beech Hill without those fellows, after we have spent so much time in hunting them down," added Dory. "They will come back when they fail to find their companions." "But I don't care about waiting all day for them. If you will go with me, we will go on shore, and take the bull by the horns. We can handle them." "All right, Dory; but how can we get ashore? We have no boat," replied the machinist, who was quite as impatient as his younger companion. "I will bring off the boat for you, and I will go ashore on one of the fenders." Dory handed his revolver to the instructor, and prepared for his trip to the shore by taking off his coat and shoes. It was a trifling feat for him, and in a few minutes he was on the beach. It was a harder matter to get the boat into the water; but he had carried a line to the shore with him, so that his companion could assist in the work. The machinist hauled the boat alongside the schooner as soon as it put into the water.