"Oh, what a mess I made of it!" he panted when he could catch his breath. "I'm not fit to hunt jack rabbits." "It's lucky you weren't run down by the yacht and killed," said Dick. "I was going to jump, but when I saw you go down I thought better of it." Ten minutes of precious time had been lost, and now the _Flyaway_ was once more far in the distance. She was heading for shore, and soon the oncoming darkness hid her from view. "Now what's to be done?" questioned Sam. "She'll slip us sure." "She can't go very far," answered Harris. "The water-line around here is rather dangerous in the dark." "Is that a storm coming up?" asked Dick. "I wouldn't be surprised." With care they continued on their way, taking the course they surmised their enemies had pursued. "There is some kind of land!" cried Sam, who was on the watch. "What place is that, Harris?" "Becker's Cove, so they call it," answered the old tar. "It's not far from Staten Island." "Do you think they came in here?" "If they did I reckon they calculate to stay over night." "Why?" "Because they'll want a pilot otherwise. It's rather dangerous sailing about here--especially in the dark." Five minutes later found them close to shore, and the sails were lowered and the anchor cast out. "I'm going to land," said Dick, and, after a consultation, it was decided that he should take Sam with him, leaving Tom and Martin Harris to keep watch from the yacht. If either party discovered anything, a double whistle twice repeated was to notify the others. Now that Dan Baxter had actually opened fire on them, Dick wished he had a firearm of some sort. But none was at hand, nor did he know where to obtain such a thing in that vicinity, and the best he and Sam could do was to cut themselves clubs out of some brush growing not far from the shore line. The spot at which they had landed was by no means an inviting one. It looked like a bit of dumping and meadow ground, and not far away rested the remains of half a dozen partly decayed canal boats which the tide had washed up high in the bogs years before. "If they landed around here I'd like to know where they went to," grumbled Sam, after he and his big brother had trudged around for half an hour without gaining any clue worth following. "It begins to look as if we had missed it, doesn't it?" "Never give up, Sam. We have got to find them, you know." "Yes, if we don't break our necks before that time comes, Dick," and as Sam spoke he went down into a meadow hole up to his knees. Dick helped him out, and as he did so the sound of two voices broke upon their ears. "You needn't come if you don't want to, Mumps," came out of the darkness, in Dan Baxter's voice. "I only thought you would be glad of the chance." "There they are," whispered Dick. "Lie down, and we'll see where they are bound, and if Dora is with them."