So, on the following morning, the Brighton boys found themselves headed again out Long Island Sound toward the Atlantic Ocean and the new seat of action off Martha's Vineyard. "We'll have no Weddigen around this time to ball things up or put any phoney stuff across again," remarked Dick as they discussed the work at hand. That set them talking about Weddigen. Not a trace of him had been found since his escape from the Navy Yard at Boston, although government secret service men had sought everywhere for him. But the boys had heard from the Navy Department concerning their exploit off Cape May in reclaiming government plans and formulas from the submerged U-boat. From the Secretary of the Navy had come a letter congratulating them for their service. "I only wish Weddigen was here, though," said Jay. "I've got a score to settle with him, and I'd enjoy nothing more than the chance to turn him over to Uncle Sam." "Some day we may meet up with him again," returned Dick. "In that event we'll see that he doesn't escape." Through the day the _Jules Verne_ made her way slowly along. Because of the fact that she was pushing the _Nautilus_ along ahead of her, navigation was necessarily slow. The speed was no better then eight knots an hour. It was nearly dusk when they arrived in the vicinity of Martha's Vineyard and quite dark when they approached the spot where the _Dominion_ lay under many fathoms of water. Quite a stir was created aboard the _Jules Verne_ when Captain Austin reported that another vessel of some kind had anchored for the night in the immediate neighborhood. "As near as I can estimate it, she is anchored just about over the spot where lies the _Dominion_," Captain Austin confided to the Brighton boys as he climbed down from the bridge of the _Jules Verne_ and joined them on deck. What manner of craft was this? Who was aboard her? And what was she doing here in this neighborhood quite out of the path of ocean travel? CHAPTER XIX IN THE PIRATES' NEST Peering through the darkness the new arrivals on the _Jules Verne_ could scarcely make out the outlines of the other craft. She seemed at first glance like a good-sized sloop with a leg-of-mutton mainsail that bellied wide against the night skyline. And then again she appeared to be a huge cabin cruiser. Lights appeared from a row of ports well forward. "What do you suppose it is?" asked Jay as he edged up close to his captain. "Likely an auxiliary craft of some kind--sail and motor," replied the chief executive of the _Jules Verne_. For a few minutes the trio watched the other vessel lying to only a few cable lengths away. Captain Austin had a glass that he trained on the stranger. But it was too dark to get many details of her. "Who do you suppose he is?" asked Dick. Captain Austin shook his head. There was no way of telling. "Looks as though some one had beat us to it," he mused.