The next day there was nothing to be seen of the wreck, and when Jack and Percival went to the wooded point to look for the place where they had descended when they first found it, there was nothing but a great hole into which the sea poured, and made a great disturbance at every tide.

“That’s the last of that,” said Jack.  “No one would believe us if we told them we had gone down there and found a vessel fast in the rocks.”

“But we know we did, for we have the evidences of it, and you are at least a couple of thousand dollars richer by it.  That will help you a lot in getting your education, my boy, and give your mother something as well.”

“Yes, and she is the first one to be considered,” said Jack.

There had been no answers as yet to the captain’s wireless messages, and that day he sent out another one, this time to the owners of the vessel in New York, addressing Mr. Smith in particular, thereby hoping to receive attention.

Meantime, the boys went on with recitations, wrote descriptions of the different parts of the island they had seen, took excursions on the bay and through the woods, and got up little entertainments to pass away the evenings so that altogether they were kept quite busy, and, as a consequence, were very well content with their situation, although it was not just what they had expected when they left home.

The day after sending out the personal message to Mr. Smith the captain of the yacht picked up a message which, although not addressed to him, was the first he had been able to pick up, and was of some interest on that account if on no other.

The message was to some government official in Florida, and related to a certain smuggler who had been defrauding the government by sending shipments of tobacco without paying the duty thereon.

“Are on track of Rollins and smuggler crew.  Sighted them near Isle of Pines.  Will keep on watch there and in Caribbean.”

Such was the message and the captain, although not especially interested in Rollins, whoever he might be, was glad to get any information from the outside world which seemed so far away, although almost at their very doors.

He sent a wireless to the sender of the message, and asked if information of their situation could be sent to the government, and help despatched to them, hoping by this means to receive some recognition at last.

“If I get other folks’ messages some one will probably get mine,” said the captain, “and by communicating with these people I may finally get attention.  Rollins?  Don’t remember to have heard of him.  There’s probably a gang of them working between our border, Cuba and the South American ports.  Whistling cyclones! they might be working among some of these little islands.  A man who would defraud his government is no better than a pirate and pirates used to hang around these waters a lot.  It isn’t such an unlikely thing that these new pirates should do it now.”