“I haven’t noticed any boat; I was too busy with the fire to look to the right or the left after I was roused from my sleep,” replied Captain Brisbane to his passenger’s question. “What boat do you mean?” “The first thing I saw after I got to the stern of the steamer was a boat with a man in it, sculling with all his might with his left hand; and that man was the prisoner whose wound you dressed this forenoon,” added Louis, telling the whole story at once. “Then the fire was set by that man,” said the captain, grinding his teeth and shaking his head. “I should like to get hold of him again, and I would not wait for judge or jury!” Louis explained in what manner Kimpton had escaped from his room, and how he supposed he had started the fire. Then he took the spy-glass from the brackets, and directed it to the shore. He could see the boat, but the man was not in sight. “What time is it now, Captain Brisbane?” he asked. “Just noon,” replied the captain, glancing at the clock on the after bulkhead. “At what time will the tide be up?” “About half-past twelve.” The Phantom was approaching the shore at full speed, and the captain gave no further attention to his passenger. In a few minutes more the forefoot ploughed into the sand, and the steamer stopped short in a position where those on board could jump upon the dry land. The violent hissing of the steam indicated that the engineer was still at his post, hot as it was there. He had stopped the machine, and provided against a possible explosion of the boiler. For the next hour all hands were kept busy in saving their own effects and such of the steamer’s as were movable. Louis had landed, taking his valise, overcoat, the compass, and spy-glass from the pilot-house with him. With the glass in his hand, he climbed the highest pine-tree he could find, hoping that he might be able to discover the Maud at her moorings; but he failed to make her out. Then he directed his glass to the other side of the bay. An inward trend of the shore-line enabled him to see across the water the extremity of a projecting point of land on the peninsula where he had landed. On this point was a man seated on the sand, apparently very busy about something. This person must be Kimpton, for there was not a house or a hut within some miles of the spot, and the nearest life-saving station was south of the inlet. He had made good use of his legs after he landed, and Louis wondered what he was doing. He was not obliged to wait long for a solution of the problem, for Kimpton hoisted a white cloth on a pole, and began to wave it violently. A few moments later Louis discovered a schooner under full sail, standing towards the inlet. The vessel was the Maud. CHAPTER XXIX LEFT ON A SANDBANK