For a moment Frank and Andy were so surprised that neither one of them could think of anything to say. It seemed almost impossible that their search should be rewarded just at the time when they had given it up. Yet there was no mistake. There was the man they wanted. At least they assumed so, for they could not make out his features at that distance. At any rate, there was the wrecked motor boat, and the tall man was critically inspecting it.

“Look! Look!” was all Andy could whisper.

“Yes,” assented Frank. “Now if he’ll only let us get within talking distance, and not run as he always does, we may learn something. I wish we could steal up on him quietly.”

“No chance of that, I’m afraid. He knows we’re here. It was he who was walking around our boat.”

“Sure; and he knows it’s the one from the Gull. Well, the only thing to do is to go right up to him. I wonder what he wants with that boat, anyhow? See, he’s poking into it as if there were gold or diamonds concealed in it.”

“Perhaps there are. Maybe that’s the mystery,” said the younger Racer lad eagerly.

“Oh, you got that out of some of the books you read. But I can’t understand how we could have missed him.”

Andy did not answer. Instead he grabbed his brother and pulled him down on the sand behind the boat. It was only just in time, for the man had turned and was gazing back toward the overturned craft.

“I hope he didn’t see us,” whispered Andy. “We must lay low until we think of some plan. Maybe he’ll get down inside the motor boat and then we can get up to him before he knows it. But I tell you what I think, Frank,” he went on, “either that man was hiding in some cave farther back than we looked, or he has just arrived.”

“The motor boat has just arrived, anyhow, or at least since night before last,” assented the elder lad. “We couldn’t have overlooked that. Say, Andy, he is getting inside! Now’s our chance!”

They saw, by peering over the edge of their craft, that the mysterious man had climbed over the half-burned rail of the damaged motor boat. His back was toward them, and they could not see his head. He appeared to be tearing the interior of the craft apart.

Cautiously the two brothers crept out from behind their shelter and made their way softly over the sand toward where the man was. What they intended to do when they confronted him they hardly knew. Frank was sure that he wanted to ask the queer stranger certain questions, and he hoped to be able to plead with him to tell what he knew of Paul Gale. The question was, whether or not the man would answer.

It was lucky that their footsteps made no sound on the soft sand, for they were thus enabled to approach to within a short distance of the wreck as it rested on the beach. The man was still in it, and they could hear him pounding and splitting wood in the interior. Evidently he was not aware of their presence.

For the first time since they had begun their surprising series of adventures, the boys were able to make out the name of the strange craft. It was the Swallow, and as they had a chance to look at her graceful lines they realized that, before the fire, wreck, and explosion the boat had been a powerful one.

“I think we have him this time,” whispered Andy, as they came nearer and nearer, and the man was still bending over with his bac............