“Going to start the motor?” asked Bluff.

“Certainly not!  It’s shallow here, and the push-pole will have to move us along.”  Saying which, Frank possessed himself of the useful article in question, without which no small boat ever cruises in Florida waters.

“I hope we don’t get mixed up, and run afoul of those chaps,” breathed Will.

“I’ve got them located, all right.  We’ll go in closer to the island, that’s all.  Perhaps they won’t come at all until daylight.”

“But if they do, Frank?” asked Bluff.

“We’ve got a right to protect ourselves, and we will,” declared the other between his set teeth, for he was now silently pushing with the pole, Jerry having raised the anchor at the bow.

This sort of thing kept up for ten minutes.  By that time Frank knew they were as close to the shore as prudence allowed.

“Let the anchor sink slowly, Jerry, and don’t make a sound, if you can avoid it,” said Frank.

“It’s already on the bottom.  Why, we’re in only four feet of water here!” came back the whispered answer.

“Now what about the boy you pulled off that craft?” asked Bluff.

“Come here, Joe,” said Frank kindly.

Instantly he felt a hand clasping his eagerly, and a boyish voice exclaimed softly: 

“Oh!  I wanter thank you ever so much for what you did, and my mom’ll say the same thing when she sees you!”

“That’s all right, Joe.  All of us are only boys, older than you, of course, but ready to hold out a helping hand to a poor chap in trouble.  Suppose you tell us, in a whisper now, what brought you aboard that sharpie.  Who are those three men, and how did you happen to be sailing with them?”

“They’re Hank, and Carlos, the Cuban, and my Uncle Ben,” came the reply.

“Hello!  He’s got an uncle aboard!” said Jerry uneasily.

“But he’s the worst of the whole lot.  He beats me, and calls me bad names.  My mother is afraid of him.  She didn’t want to let me go on this trip with Uncle Ben, but he just made me.  His name is Baxter.  You see, he’s her brother-in-law, not her real brother.  I always called him uncle, but he ain’t, either.  I hate him, and I’d sooner die than go back there again!”

“Don’t be afraid, my boy.  We have no intention of letting them get you again.  It happens that we’re bound for Cedar Keys ourselves, and we’ll see you safely home.  Your mother lives there, you say?” went on Frank, patting the trembling little hand, with its hard palm, that told of much hard work for so young a lad.

“Yes, sir; but we’re awful poor.  We used to live in Pensacola when dad was on his job, but he got killed in his engine long ago.  Then mother had a chance to do something in Cedar Keys, and we came on.  But things went wrong, sister got sick, and it’s been hard work to get enough to eat.  Still, my mother never complains; she ain’t one of that kind; and a feller just has to be up and doin’ somethin’ to help out.  That was why I came along when Uncle Ben promised good wages, and without letting her know.”