All three of the others tried their best to "pump" Dave, but could get nothing out of the young diver regarding his father's plans or those of Captain Broadbeam. "You must find out yourself," he answered. He was made to march to the extreme right of the cave, and here Rackley fastened him to a sharp rock which jutted from one of the walls. "There, I reckon he won't get loose from that in a hurry," said the rascal, after his job was finished. Then the three evildoers withdrew to the mouth of the cave, stopping at the underground stream just long enough to remove the tree limb so that Dave could not cross the stream even if he did get free. A quarter of an hour later the others went away from the cave, and all became as silent as a tomb. If the young diver had been disheartened before, he was now utterly cast down. He was a prisoner of the enemy, and he felt almost certain that Pete Rackley would desert him and leave him to starve. No food had been left with him excepting that which was in the water-soaked pouch that he carried. And this he could not get at, for his hands were still bound tightly behind him. An hour went by, and to him it seemed an age. His thoughts wandered back to the _Swallow_. How was his stricken father getting along, and what did he think of his disappearance? And what had become of poor Bob Vilett, who had accompanied him on this ill-fated expedition after game? "Captain Broadbeam will most likely send out an expedition in search of us," he reasoned, "but I don't think any of them will come in here." But then his hopes brightened a little. Perhaps if the captain sent out somebody to look for himself and Bob, that person might discover the _Raven_ in that port. "If the _Raven_ is discovered, father will feel sure Lemuel Hankers has had a hand in my disappearance, and he'll take the rascal to task for it." Dave did not know that Lemuel Hankers had given strict orders to Captain Nesik, of the _Raven_, to keep out of sight of the _Swallow_, and that the _Raven_ was now well hidden in a little cove thickly surrounded by palms and tropical vines. In less than two hours after leaving Dave, Lemuel Hankers and his son rejoined the _Raven_. "What has become of Pete Rackley?" questioned Captain Nesik. "He went off by himself," answered Lemuel Hankers. "To my mind, he isn't just right in his head." "Why, what do you mean?" "He ran around like a crazy man, and broke out into the wildest kind of singing. Said he was done with living on a ship, and was going to become a hermit." This story was told for the benefit of the crew of the _Raven_. In private, Lemuel Hankers told Captain Nesik the truth, and before nightfall the captain went ashore, pretending to look for Rackley. When he came back he announced that Rackley must be dead, for he had found his hat at the top of a high cliff overlooking the ocean, and a part of his jacket on the jagged rocks below.