"Captain," Alex said, as they sat back of the gunwale on the prow, "I wish you'd take this glass and see what you can discover on that point."
Captain Joe took the glass into his hand and held it for a long time, swinging it back and forth over the shore to the north, and over the river line of Cartier island. Then he handed it back to Alex.
"I'll tell you," he said slowly, "there's a campfire over on the point, and there are many people around it. At least I see figures moving back and forth."
"Perhaps that is a base of supplies for the fellows who are trying to find the lost channel in order to beat Fontenelle to the charter and the family jewels," Clay suggested.
"It doesn't seem as if they would camp in so conspicuous a place."
"Oh, I don't know about that," Case said, "they have nothing to fear from officers or wreckers. They are only hunting for a lost treasure, which any one may find who is lucky enough to get to it."
"Let's go and call on them," suggested Alex.
"I prefer to live a little longer," Case laughed.
"Aw, come on, they won't hurt us," Alex argued, "I'm going."
The boys laughed at the idea and Alex said no more about the proposed excursion, but Clay suggested to Captain Joe after the others were in their bunks:
"We must watch that little rascal, or he'll get up in the night and run over there. He's always doing tricks of that kind, and some time he'll get into serious trouble."
Captain Joe pretended to regard the situation as very serious, and said that he would see that Alex didn't get away from the boat that night. With this Clay seemed contented. The old captain insisted on keeping watch again that night, but if the boys had been about the deck they would have seen very little of him, for all that.
As soon as the others were asleep, the captain untied the tow line of the canoe, stepped softly into it, and paddled away in the direction of the north shore. So far as possible he kept the bulk of the _Rambler_ between himself and the point where the light had been seen.
Reaching the margin of the bay, he turned to the east and paddled straight to the mouth of the west river. After an hour of steady work, he reached a point a little east and directly north of Point aux Outardes. Nothing could be seen of the fire or the figures about it from the north, and the captain boldly crossed the arm of the bay stretching in behind Cartier island. In half an hour he was on the island itself, and separated only by a few rods of mingled rocks and bushes from the point.