There was no delay and after the boys had crossed the field they approached the kitchen-door of the rude, little house where Fred made known their presence by his noisy summons. CHAPTER VIII LEFT BEHIND In response to Fred's knock the door was opened by the little Japanese servant. He stared blankly at the boys and then broke into another of his loud laughs. "Is there any one here?" inquired Fred. The response of the Japanese was another boisterous laugh. "Why don't you tell us?" demanded John, irritated by the manner of the little man; but the sole response of the Japanese was a loud burst of laughter after each inquiry. "Let's go in anyway," suggested Fred. The Japanese offered no opposition to their entrance and when they were within the familiar room they glanced hastily about them, but there were no signs of the man they were seeking. Abruptly, however, Fred said, "Hush! Listen, Jack! That's the captain's voice upstairs." Both boys were silent as they listened attentively to the sound of voices which now could be heard from the upper room. Gradually the captain's voice became louder and it was manifest that he was either in trouble or angry. To the astonishment of the boys the interview suddenly ended and the captain, rushing down the stairway, abruptly departed from the house. Apparently he had been unaware of the presence of either of the boys. He had glanced neither to the right nor to the left and as the boys looked out of the window they saw that he was walking rapidly toward the shore. "Let him go," said John, "he'll have to wait for us anyway." "I wish I was sure that he would wait," said Fred doubtfully. "Wait? Of course he'll wait," retorted John. "That's what he's paid for." "I'm not so sure," said Fred once more. "I think the best thing to do would be for one of us to go back and see that everything is all right." "All right," responded John quickly. "You stay here if you want to and I'll go down to the shore and see if anything happens there." Meanwhile Fred seated himself in the room and watched the Japanese servant, who apparently ignored his presence save occasionally when he stopped and stared blankly at him for a moment and then broke into a noisy laugh. Not many minutes had elapsed, however, before John came running back to the house. "The captain has taken the skiff and left the island!" he said excitedly when he burst into the room. "Oh, I guess not," said Fred. "But he has, I tell you. He was rowing like mad. He has taken the skiff and left us here." "We'll go down to see about it," said Fred, abruptly rising and accompanying his friend as together they ran back to the shore. "There it is, just as I told you!" said John, when they arrived on the bluff. "The boat has gone and the captain has gone with it."