The young millionaire shoved off with the boat-hook, and the two men gave way very well together. There was no rudder to the boat, but Louis found an oar, which he used in the rowlock in the stern board. The distance across to the point was about a mile, and Louis steered directly for it. He had decided to land there; if the Maud was concealed around the neck of land, he preferred not to come upon her in the boat. The schooner still had four men on board of her, and he had no doubt Scoble would recognize him the moment he set eyes on him. He would then understand that his hiding-place was discovered, and in his desperation he was capable of being very wicked. It would be more prudent, as Captain Ringgold had cautioned him to be, and Captain Brisbane had repeated the warning, to land at the point, and move up among the pines on the shore till the Maud was discovered, if she was there. “I beg your pardon, sir, but don’t you think it would be better to run farther up the bay than the point, sir?” asked Flounder, who was pulling the stroke oar. [Illustration: “‘STOP WHERE YOU ARE!’ SHOUTED FLOUNDER.” Page 207.] “I do not think so,” replied Louis very decidedly. “I am going to land on the point.” “I don’t believe the vessel you are looking for is up here at all, and I don’t care about doing any more walking than is necessary,” added Flounder, in a tone which bordered upon impudence to his employer. “By going a little way up the bay to the north, you can see all there is here that floats.” “Nothing more need be said about it; we are going to the point,” replied Louis, quietly but firmly. Flounder said no more. Whatever the recruit might be, there was evidently an element of insubordination in him. But he hated Scoble, and intended to get either money or revenge out of him. The boat reached the point, and Louis ran it up on the beach. “Bickling, you may go on shore, and walk up far enough to enable you to see whether or not there is a vessel around the point,” said Louis. “If you find the Maud there, and you will know her at once, come back immediately, and you need not go near her.” “Which I don’t want to go near her, sir,” replied the cook, as he stepped ashore, and started to obey the order. “I think I will go with him,” added Flounder, as he leaped out of the boat. “Very well; but if the Maud is there, don’t go near her,” replied the leader. “If I get my eye on Scoble, I shall want to know if he has any money in his pockets,” answered the recruit. Louis was not particularly well pleased with Flounder, for he had begun to develop a sort of lawlessness in his manner. But if Scoble got hold of him, and made a prisoner of him, it made but little difference to him, for he could readily dispense with the services of such a man. The two men disappeared around the point, where the ground seemed to be dry, though it was nothing but a bog on the south side.