“Captain, I want you to understand that Gibson and I didn’t agree to what they wanted to do,” came from Marny.  “But we were overruled, and we had to hold our tongues for fear of being knocked down or shot.”

“Do you want to join our crowd?” asked Dick bluntly.

“We do, and if you’ll take us in we’ll promise to stand by you to the end, no matter what comes.  We know they’ve got the best of it—­having the ship’s stores—­but we don’t care for that.  They are a drunken, good-for-nothing crowd, and we are done with them.”

“All right, men, I think we can trust you,” said Captain Blossom.  “It’s a pity that Hackenhaven was lost overboard and eat up by the sharks.  We could rather have spared Lesher.”

“Or Dan Baxter,” observed Tom.

“With three gone they have but eight men left on the wreck,” said Sam.  “And we now number seven men and three ladies.  If we stand our ground, I can’t see as we have much to fear from them.”

“It will be all right so long as they keep their distance,” said Captain Blossom.  “But if they come over here in a body when they are half full of drink, there is sure to be a row and probably some shooting.  Still, we needn’t try to meet trouble halfway.”

The sailors gave some more of the details of their doings while in Lesher’s company, and then they were provided with additional clothing, and each was given a pistol and some ammunition.  Nothing was said to them about the cave or the provisions stored there, Captain Blossom deeming it best to wait and make sure if they were to be thoroughly trusted.

“You see,” said he, “they may be straight enough, or they may be spies sent by Lesher to find out just what we propose to do.”

“They look honest,” said Dick.  “I should trust them.”

The long pull on the bay had worn the two sailors out, and they were soon sleeping soundly.  The girls followed, and then the boys started to turn in.

Sam had just gone to rest, and Tom was following, when Dick, who had stepped out on the beach, uttered a cry.

“What’s up?” asked Captain Blossom.

“Look toward the wreck.  What does that light mean?”

The captain looked, and then ran for his spy-glass.

“The Golden Wave is afire!” he exclaimed.  “That light is coming up out of the cabin!”

“The wreck is on fire!” shouted Tom, and this cry brought everybody out once more.

With remarkable rapidity the light grew brighter, until the heavens and the entire bay were lit up by the conflagration.  There was a strong wind blowing, which carried the sparks to the jungle back of the ship.  Listening intently, they could occasionally hear the roaring and crackling of the flames.

“The ship is doomed, that is certain,” said Sam.  “I wonder if all who were on board escaped?”

“The fire has caught in the brushwood on the shore,” announced Captain Blossom, who had continued to use the spyglass.