"That's from the boss. I guess it will explain the thing, but he said I'd better let you know that we'd had trouble." "Then you didn't get the dope men?" "We corralled three of them; the rest broke away. One of the boys got a bullet in him and he's been lying in the rain all night. I don't know how we're going to pack him out." "Things went wrong?" said Frank. "They did," the man assented. "One of the boys got his pistol off by accident just after the boat had come ashore, and that gave our plans away. The boat's crew shoved off and several men who'd been landed broke through in the dark. Anyhow, when the trouble was over we'd got one case of dope, two whites of no account, and a Chinaman." "And the schooner?" "She was heading out to sea with mighty little sail on her when I left. You'll be able to take word through to Barclay?" "I don't know," Harry answered dubiously. "It's too dark to tell what the sea's like now. I suppose there's no other means of warning him?" "No," said the man. "Even if I could get a message on to the wire they wouldn't be able to deliver it at the other end, but he has to be warned somehow." "If you'll come off we'll give you breakfast. It should be light enough to see what the weather's like by the time you had finished," Harry suggested. "It can't be done," was the answer. "I've to go on for a doctor and raise a crowd to run those fellows down. I've already stayed longer than I should." "Your horse is played out," Frank objected. "I'll hire another. There's a ranch somewhere ahead. I'll say you have taken that message." "We'll do it if it's any way possible," said Harry. The man turned away without another word and they heard him stumbling through the wood beside his horse until the roar of the wind drowned the sound, after which they went back to the canoe. They had no trouble in reaching the sloop, for they were driven down upon her furiously, and on clambering on board they found that Jake had breakfast ready. It was daylight when they crawled out of the cabin after the meal, but the sky was hidden by low-flying vapor, and gazing seaward they could see only a short stretch of big leader combers which rolled up out of the haze crested with livid froth. Jake shook his head doubtfully at Harry. "You'll have to stop a while," he said. "She wouldn't run for half an hour before that sea. We couldn't start till after dinner if the wind dropped right now, but it's falling and we might get away in the afternoon." The morning dragged by while the boys chafed at the delay, though they had no doubt that Jake was right and neither of them felt any keen desire to face the sea that was tumbling in from the Pacific. Still, the roar of the wind steadily diminished and the sloop rode more easily, and at length Jake offered to make the venture after they had had a meal.