On the island, he mused, his friends would have discovered his discarded garments by this time, and would be calling and hallooing to him—–­in vain.  What would they think of his prolonged absence?  That he had been drowned, or attacked by sharks, or lost in a quicksand?—–­what on earth would they imagine had happened to him?  And Billy?  Poor Billy, he would be quite frantic over the strange disappearance of his chum!  The actual state of affairs would be about the last guess to enter their minds.

Well, it could not be helped now.  He would have to bide his time and await developments, trusting that his friends would not delay their coming to the rescue.  Meanwhile, where were these three villains taking him against his will?

After dodging from one island or key to another, slipping along the shady shores, the canoe suddenly struck out across the wider stretch of water, beyond which lay the mainland.  Presently it thrust its nose into the soft bank of a stream, or, rather, a sluggish water-course which made a clear channel in an ocean of waving saw-grass.  The men shipped their paddles, stepped out, and lifted Hugh to his feet; then they dragged him ashore.

He was able now to look about him, to see where they had landed.

A desolate spot it was, being merely an indentation in the swampy coast, a deep cove formed by two projecting arms of land which boasted of no vegetation except the tall grass and a group of stunted palmettos.  Into this cove flowed a stream, and at a little distance from the mouth of the stream stood three log cabins, thatched with bundles of grass.  They were all that remained of a little camp of fishermen and beach-combers, which had once shown promise of becoming a village before it had been finally abandoned to the wilderness.

From the stove-pipe chimney of one of these cabins, the largest, a thin spiral of blue smoke rose and drifted away on the breeze.  This was the only sign of human occupancy.  The other two dilapidated buildings might readily be imagined to shelter only spiders and snakes.  Toward this habitation the smugglers now led their young captive, having first removed the gag from his mouth.

“Now you can shout an’ yell all you’ve a mind to,” said Branks, his black eyes twinkling with grim mirth.  “Raise the roof, if you want; there won’t be anybody for miles around to hear you.”

Hugh made no reply, though his quick temper was at the boiling point.  He did not believe a word of the taunt; indeed, on the way over from the island, listening to the men’s talk, he had formed the opinion that they were trying to “bluff” him, trying to impress him with the idea that he was helpless and far away from his friends.

The chief thing which puzzled him was: 

Why had not the Arrow given chase to the canoe if his friends had caught sight of it, as they must have done?  It seemed very unlikely that no one of his party had seen the canoe stealing out across the water.  Hugh did not know that Vinton, as soon as the canoe had been sighted, had given orders to go aboard the sloop at once, and that the Arrow had promptly gone in pursuit, but such was the case.  Only, by some accident, the sloop had struck shoal water and was now stuck fast on a sandbar, waiting for the tide to lift her afloat.