On the front piazza I found an elderly woman, with a broom. She knew me, for she had frequently seen me during the time that I was encamped upon the island. She was now greatly surprised at my appearance on the scene. "Why, sir," she exclaimed, without waiting for me to speak, "have you come back to your camp? It is too bad." I did not like this salutation. But, making no answer to it, I asked quickly, "Can I see Mrs. Raynor?" "No, indeed," said she; "they've gone, every one of them, and not an hour ago. What a pity they did not know you were here!" "Gone!" I cried. "Where?" "They've gone off in their yacht for a cruise," returned the woman. "The vessel has been at Brimley for more than a week, being repaired, and she got back this morning; and as she was all ready to sail, they just made up their minds that they'd go off in her, for one of their little voyages they are so fond of; and off they went, in less than two hours." "How long do they expect to be gone?" I asked. "Mrs. Raynor told me they would be away probably for a week or two," the woman answered, "and she would stop somewhere and telegraph to me when she was coming back. Of course there isn't any telegraph to this island, but when messages come to Brimley they send them over in a boat." Having determined to speak to Mrs. Raynor, and having set out to do so, this undertaking appeared to me the most important thing in the world, and one in which I must press forward, without regard to obstacles of any kind. "Are they going to any particular place?" I said. "Are they going to stop anywhere?" "There is only one place that I know of," she answered, "and that's Sanpritchit, over on the mainland. They expect to stop there to get provisions for the cruise, for there was but little here that they could take with them. They wanted to get there before dark, and I don't doubt but that, with this wind, they'll do it. If you'll step to this end of the piazza, sir, perhaps you can see their topsail. I saw it just before you came, as they were beginning to make the long tack." "Yes, there it is," she continued, when we reached the place referred to, from which a vast stretch of the bay could be seen, "but not so much of it as I saw just now." "Their topsail!" I ejaculated. "Yes, sir," she said. "You can't see their mainsail, because they are so far away, and it's behind the water, in a manner." I stood silent for a few minutes, gazing at the little ship. Suddenly a thought struck me. "Do you think they will sail on Sunday?" I asked.