Part 33 (1/2)

”Oh, we mustn't think of giving up!” cried Bess. ”I know my father.

He just wouldn't give in to those horrid mutineers, and he wouldn't throw in his fortunes with them, either. I can't explain it, but, somehow I feel more hopeful than at any time yet, that they are all right--Papa and Mamma, and your mother, too, Cora.”

”I am glad you think so, dear. I haven't given up either. But let's get away from here, Jack.”

”That's what I say!” murmured Belle, with a little nervous s.h.i.+ver.

”This place gives me such a creepy feeling.”

”You might well say so, Miss,” put in Ben. ”That is, if you had to stay here all along, as I did, with nothing but them parrot birds screeching at you all day long. It was awful!”

There was no use in staying longer on Lonely Island, and Ben Wrensch was only too glad to be taken from it. At first the motor girls talked of taking him with them, on the remainder of the cruise, but, as Jack pointed out, there was no need of this.

He could give no further information as to the location of the Ramona, providing the steamer still was afloat. And he would only be an added, and comparatively useless, pa.s.senger. He was not exactly the sort of personage one would desire in the rather cramped quarters of the Tartar, though he was kind and obliging. He would be better off ash.o.r.e, for the time being, where he could get medical treatment.

So the big motor boat swept out of the blue lagoon, and headed for St. Kitts, for it was planned to leave Ben, and once more take up the search.

They had not been under way more than an hour, however, before Jack, who was steering, uttered a cry.

”There's a boat cording toward us!” he said. ”She seems to be a small launch.”

”Yes, and she's signaling to us!” added Walter. ”She wants to speak with us!”

Joe came up from the motor room, and looked long and earnestly at the approaching craft.

”That's an English revenue cutter,” he said, ”and she's in a hurry, too.”

”I wonder what she can want with us,” mused Jack, as he ordered a signal to be run up on the small mast, indicating that they would speak to the approaching craft.

CHAPTER XXV

NEWS OF THE ”RAMONA”

Over the slowly heaving swell of the blue waters the swift revenue cutter came on. Those aboard the Tartar watched her with eager eyes.

Did she have some news for them? This was the question in the mind of the motor girls.

”Oh, perhaps they have mother aboard!” breathed Cora, her hopes running thus high.

”And they might have our mother and father!” added Bess, taking bold heart as she heard Cora speak.

Inez said nothing. It was too much for her to dare to think that her father might be released from his political prison. She could only wait and hope.

”Some speed to her,” observed Jack, admiringly, as he watched the white foam piled up in front of the bow of the oncoming craft.

”But she's not very big,” spoke Walter.

”She's built for speed,” remarked Engineer Joe. ”She doesn't usually come out this far to sea; just hangs around the harbors, and tries to catch small smugglers. She couldn't stand much of a blow, and it's my opinion we're going to get one.”

”Oh, I hope not soon!” exclaimed Cora, with a little nervous glance up at the sky.