“It’s lucky for me they concluded that I must be marooned,” Ned said as they retraced their steps over the hot, shimmering sand. “If they hadn’t done that most likely I’d been taken in the boat with them to prevent my telling the men what I’d heard, an’ in that case where would I be now?”
“Overboard, I reckon,” Roy replied in a tone of awe. “It must have been a terrible fight before the first man died, and you would have been forced over the side while they were leaping around trying to kill each other. Spider Key has used you mighty well, according to my way of thinking.”
“That’s a fact, and I’m expecting to have yet better luck here. When we get back to camp I’m goin’ to open up a scheme to you fellows, an’ I hope you’ll see things in the same light I do.”
“I’ll tell you when we get back. The day is so nearly spent that it won’t pay to begin work until morning, an’ we shall have plenty of time to talk.”
The others were obliged to curb their curiosity as best they could, for Ned absolutely refused to gratify it until they were where a conversation could be carried on in a comfortable manner.
After the disagreeable work and the general excitement and horrors of the morning, none of the party felt particularly hungry, therefore Roy served a cold lunch for dinner, promising a more hearty meal at night.
“It’s so late now that if I tried to do very much cooking it would be sunset before the job was finished,” he explained.
“This is good enough for me,” Ned replied as he helped himself to some sea biscuit and a generous slice of cheese.
“Then while you are eating suppose you give us a glimpse of that famous scheme. It is better to talk about almost anything rather than sit here thinking of what we have just seen,” and Vance moved nearer, as if the closest possible companionship was necessary in order to drive away the memories of the morning.
“It isn’t so very much that I’ve got to say, but it counts for a good deal in my mind. To begin with, we want to get away from here as soon as we can.”
“That goes without saying, and especially now,” Roy replied with a nervous laugh.
“And it may be a year before any craft comes this way.”
“I’m not prepared to admit quite as much as that, for a vessel of some kind must happen around before so much time elapses.”