“Yes, it’s land, thank God!” he exclaimed thoughtfully.  “We are floating ashore, Natalie—­saved in spite of ourselves.  Why, we could not have been so far out in the lake after all.  That must be why all those vessels passed to the east of us.  I ought to have thought of that before; those villains would never have deserted the yacht in mid-lake, and taken to the boat.  They must have known they could make shore easily.”

Her glance searched the face of the bluff, which with each moment was becoming more distinctly visible.

“You don’t suppose they landed here, do you?”

“Not very likely; even if they did they are not here now.  They would have made it before daylight this morning.  All the time we have been drifting out there they had to get away in.  There is no danger that Hogan is anywhere along this shore now.”

“You think he and—­and those others have all gone?”

“Yes; why should they hang around here?  The last idea in their heads would be the possibility of our ever drifting in alive.  Hogan has gone back to Chicago to make a report to Hobart, and the rest have scattered like a covey of partridges.  Not one of them has a thought but that we went down in the Seminole.  Now they’ll pull off their graft, and pull it quick.”

“And what will you do?”

“Get safely ashore first.  It will be dark in less than an hour; but we are too far out yet to venture swimming.  We shall have to hang tight to the raft a while yet, and drift; the current is carrying us all right.  Do you see any sign of life over there—­houses, or smoke?”

“No; I have been looking; the whole shore-line appears utterly deserted.  Have you any idea where we can be?”

“Not the slightest; only this is certainly the west shore; there is no such abandoned spot anywhere between Chicago and Milwaukee, and we must be much farther north.  They had plenty of time to put the yacht quite a ways up shore before they sank her.”

“Hogan must have known where he was.”

“Unquestionably; it was all planned out; he knew exactly where he intended to land, and how long it would take them to reach there after they left the yacht.”

“Perhaps,” she suggested hesitatingly, “the gang had some rendezvous up here in these north-woods, a place where they could hide.”

West shook his head negatively.

“No, I don’t think that; they may know the country, and how best to get away quickly.  But those fellows are city thieves—­Hobart and Hogan anyway—­and would feel far safer back in their haunts in Chicago.  There is no place like a big city to hide in, and besides, even if they have got the money already,—­which I doubt—­there has been no chance to divide it, and ‘Red’ would never let Hobart get away without paying him his share.  They are not loitering around here, Natalie, waiting for ghosts to appear; they are back in town hours ago.”

“But what can we do?”