"I wanted to let you understand we were coming, and emptied my revolver at the same moment the captain did his. There was considerable noise, I'll admit; but knowing we should land in a few moments, I paid little attention to it at the time."
The sun was already sending forth heralds of his coming when the happy party exhausted their questions and explanations, and half an hour later the Lorlie was anchored in the cove, with the five who had passed through so many adventures eating a hearty breakfast in her luxuriously-furnished cabin.
After the meal had been concluded the work of taking the gold on board was begun, and before nine o'clock the yacht was slipping swiftly out of the harbor, heading for Nassau, all her white sails filled by a strong north-westerly breeze.
Instead of going directly to New York, it was Mr. Vandyne's intention to run down the shoal for the purpose of sending wreckers to the key, in the hope of saving such cargo from the Bonita as was on or near the island.
The three boys were standing aft as she passed the point where Walter had done duty as sentinel with such happy results, and it was very difficult for either to restrain his joy at thus bidding adieu to the key.
"When I get my ship I won't come within a hundred miles of this place," Jim said emphatically; and his companions were quite positive it would not give them any pleasure to return.
Swiftly the gallant yacht sped on, bowing her long, tapering spars to the ocean swell, until the key was hardly more than a spot of blue on the horizon, and the accidental cruise was well-nigh at an end.
