"Brig ahoy! ahoy!"

Bob actually looked alarmed. He had believed the key to be uninhabited, and, knowing there was no craft in sight when they came below, all his superst.i.tious fears were aroused by the cry. Just for an instant he hesitated, as if not daring to go on deck, and then ran up the companion-ladder, closely followed by the remainder of the party.

Surely there was nothing in that which met their gaze to cause alarm. On the sh.o.r.e stood three men, and when the old sailor made his appearance one of them repeated the hail.

"Ahoy on sh.o.r.e," he replied.

"Send a boat, will you? Our craft went away leaving us here, and we've been cooped up on this island nearly a week."

"It won't do much good for us to take you aboard. We're hard and fast aground."

"Somethin' to eat is what we're wantin' pretty bad," the man on sh.o.r.e cried; and Bob said, as he turned to Joe:

"I reckon we oughter go after 'em; but somehow I don't jes' believe his yarn."

"Why not?"

"'Cause there's no reason why an honest vessel would stop here long enough for her crew to go ash.o.r.e; an' then, agin, they haven't got a sailor cut about 'em."

Having thus given words to his suspicions, Bob set about lowering the Trade Wind's yawl with as much alacrity as if some one in sore distress stood in need of their services, and five minutes later he and Joe were rowing ash.o.r.e.

The strangers stepped into the boat the instant her bow grated on the sand with the air of persons who are conferring rather than receiving a favor, and making no attempt to push the craft into deep water.

"It's a sailor's rule for the last aboard to shove off," Bob said with just a shade of anger in his tone, and the man in the bow leaped ash.o.r.e to perform that duty, after which the yawl was pulled toward the brig.

The three boys were standing at the rail forward watching all which occurred, but saying nothing until the boat was near enough to admit of their seeing the strangers clearly. Then Jim whispered:

"That's what I call a mighty hard-lookin' crowd, an' I don't wonder Bob says they haven't got the sailor cut. I wouldn't like to meet either one of 'em alone in the dark."

Two of the three strangers appeared to be Americans, but of a disagreeable type, while the third was unmistakably a Mexican; and it was this last upon whom Jim looked with the most suspicion.

There was no further opportunity for him to criticise them, however, since the boat was rapidly approaching the brig, and Bob had already shouted:

"Heave that gangway-ladder over, an' then set about gettin' up another breakfast."

The first order was quickly obeyed, and Jim went into the galley to comply with the second as the new-comers stepped on board and halted near the mainmast to gaze curiously around, as if taking a mental inventory of the brig's general condition.

CHAPTER XI.

THE STRANGERS.

The new-comers were by no means pre-possessing in appearance, and would hardly have inspired confidence even had their manners been more agreeable.

He who acted as spokesman for the party was a stout man with a very long body and short, bowed legs, that caused him to roll to and fro like a ship in a gale when he walked. It was his nose which attracted the most attention, for it was not only the most prominent feature of a not remarkably pleasing-looking countenance, but so enlarged and red at the end that one could well fancy he had fastened a boiled beet to his face as a partial disguise.

The other American was exactly the reverse in form and feature. He was tall and thin, with a sickly yellow complexion and a little snub nose which looked as if made of putty for a much smaller face--one that might have been bought at auction because it was cheap, if noses could ever be sold.

The Mexican would answer for a type of that cla.s.s known as "greasers,"

save for the fact that he had discarded his national costume in favor of a dirty pair of duck trousers and a blue flannel shirt.

In the boys' eyes, at least, the three appeared more like hardened villains than honest sailors; and this opinion was strengthened rather than lessened when they were better known.

Although Bob doubted the story they told, he had no proof that it was false; therefore he treated them as if believing every word, and as the first move toward ministering to their alleged necessities had ordered Jim to prepare breakfast.

As a matter of fact, the account which these men gave of themselves was such as could not well be questioned in the absence of evidence to the contrary.

They were a portion of the crew of a turtling-schooner hailing from Na.s.sau; so the red-nosed man had said during the short pull from the beach to the brig. Five days previous their craft put into this cove, and they, with two others, came ash.o.r.e to search for turtles. At this work they followed around the sh.o.r.e of the key until so far away that night came on before the return journey could be made.

The other two men had traveled in an opposite direction, consequently they were alone, but not at all disquieted at being forced to remain over night on the island, because in their business such incidents were of frequent occurrence. With never a thought of trouble they made themselves comfortable in the thicket, returning to the cove as soon as possible after sunrise.

To their great surprise the schooner was no longer there, nor could the other members of the crew be found. They had been deserted; but why, neither of the party could even so much as guess. The Bonita and the tug were the first crafts the men had seen, and, quite naturally, they lost no time in hailing the crew.

Jim was not an expert cook; therefore the work in the galley was done very slowly. It would have been nearly noon before the second meal could be served had not Harry and Walter a.s.sisted to the extent of making the table ready, and afterward carrying the food below.

Bob and Joe had gone about their task of ascertaining the exact condition of the brig in order to form plans for floating her, and Jim was forced to announce breakfast when his culinary labors were ended.

"You've been about it long enough to cook dinner for the President!" the man with the red nose said, in a surly tone. "If I was the skipper of this 'ere brig I'll find a way to make you more lively!"

"Well, so long as you ain't the skipper, but only a sailor what says he's starvin' to death, s'posin' you buckle down to the grub that's cooked, so's I can get the cabin cleaned up!" Jim replied saucily; and before the words were hardly out of his mouth he received a blow on the side of his head which sent him reeling against the rail.

Then, as if the uncalled-for punishment had been a kindly reward for services performed, the red-nosed man led the way below, followed by his companions, who seemed to think that gentleman's method of treating their hosts was something very comical.

Jim was too much surprised to make any outcry. After looking around to learn if Bob had been a witness of the injury he retreated to the galley, soothing his anger by shaking his fist in the direction of the cabin.

"You jes' wait," he muttered, seating himself on an empty mess-kid where he could nurse his sore face. "You jes' wait an' see if I don't fix the whole crowd! Talk about bein' sailors an' then cuffin' the cook when you're goin' to eat aft! I'll bet not one of them villains knows how to reef a jib, an' before they leave this vessel I'll show what I can do."

It is not probable that Jim had any very clear idea as to what kind of punishment he would mete out to this man who had struck him without provocation; but he believed an opportunity of avenging his wrongs would present itself in the near future, and this thought had a wonderfully soothing effect.

Harry and Walter, as attendants upon the guests, were treated with no more consideration than that shown Jim. When the men seated themselves at the table, both boys went toward the companion-way as if to go on deck; but the thin man cried gruffly:

"Stay here, you young cubs! We may need somethin' more, an' in that case you're to bring it!"

Just for an instant Harry glanced at Walter, as if questioning whether they should obey, and then, evidently concluding discretion was the better part of valor, he retreated to one corner of the cabin, where he would be ready to obey the commands of these strange guests.

During the next ten minutes the men ate voraciously--not as if they had been on the verge of starvation, but like pigs; and at the end of that time he with the red nose asked, as he rested both elbows on the table and picked his teeth with a fork:

"Where does this brig hail from?"

"I don't know," Walter replied, after waiting in vain for Harry to speak.

"Don't know? Haven't you got sense enough to tell where you come from?"

"_We_ belong in New York. While we were at the Isle of Shoals, Jim and Harry and I rowed out to the brig, and found her abandoned. Then the wind sprung up and she ran away with us."