The yellow beam of light revealed the pallid leaves of the bushes by the shore and the naked walls of rock above. But although Frank turned the flashlight in every direction about the cove there was no sign of the rowboat in which the two men had arrived. It had vanished utterly. Although the lads were prepared for the disappearance of the smugglers, they were not prepared for the disappearance of the rowboat. But they searched for it in vain. The light revealed nothing of the craft. “I wonder where they hid it!” whispered Frank. They began a systematic search of the bushes around the cove, remaining as quiet as possible, but although they made almost a tour of the place it was soon evident that the boat had not been beached under cover of any of the thickets. “It must be hidden in a cave of some kind,” Frank decided at last. “And that’s where the smugglers are.” Once again they began a search of the bushes. They were still wading in the water and their feet were now very cold, but they searched patiently and carefully, brushing aside the branches, peering into the bushes, but it seemed they were to find nothing but the uncompromising rocks and moss beyond. At last, however, as they were approaching a part of the cove which they had not visited before, Frank, who was in the lead, stumbled suddenly forward. His groping feet had failed to encounter bottom and he had lost his balance. With great presence of mind, he kept the flashlight high in the air. He had stepped into a deep hole, and although he was up to his neck in water he kept his arm raised, keeping the flashlight free of the wetness. “Here! Take the light,” he gasped, in a hoarse whisper. Joe leaned over and grasped the flashlight. “Deep water here,” muttered Frank, as he tried to scramble back into the shallows. But the hole into which he had fallen was a sudden drop and it was necessary for Joe to grasp his brother’s outstretched hand before he could regain the shallow water. At length, soaked to the skin, Frank again stood beside his brother. “Good thing it wasn’t any deeper,” he remarked. “The bottom is pretty level around here. It’s funny there should be a deep hole like that.” Frank gave a sudden exclamation. “I know how that came to be there,” he whispered. “That’s a channel! See how close it is to the shore. The water shouldn’t be so deep right there.” “Why should it be a channel?” “To let that motorboat get into shore—or the rowboat. They’d run aground otherwise. Give me the light. I’ll bet we’ve found where that boat was hidden.” He played the flashlight on the surface of the water and then they could see clearly that the bottom of the cove was broken by a deep channel at that point, several feet in width, leading directly toward a clump of bushes at the shore. Keeping well to the side of the channel and in the shallow water, the Hardy boys made their way over to the bushes.