So lost was he in reflection that he started abruptly when the rowing again ceased, and one of the men whispered, hoarsely:
He was pointing back from where they had come; and, turning, Peveril saw, apparently gliding from the very shore of the island they had just passed, a small schooner. She must have sailed from the bay into which they had gazed, and yet they believed they had scrutinized every inch of its surface.
"By gar!" cried Joe Pintaud. "Some more dev, hein?"
"It looks to me like the boat of your friends the smugglers," suggested Peveril, studying the vessel closely.
"Oui, certainment! It ees ze sheep of ze tradair."
"Then we will go and see where she came from, for so snug a hiding-place is worth discovering."
So the skiff was put about and rowed back to the little bay bisecting the island. Then it was found that there were two small islands, and that the supposed bay was really an inlet from the lake, which made a sharp angle at a point invisible from outside. This channel led to a narrow sound, from which another inlet cut directly into the rock-bound coast. It was quite short, and quickly widened into an exquisite basin, completely land-locked and very nearly circular.
Peveril had followed this devious course with all the eagerness of an explorer; but his men had cast many nervous glances over their shoulders, and even Joe Pintaud had expressed a muttered hope that they were not being led into some trap.
As the skiff emerged from the high-walled inlet and shot into the smiling basin, an exclamation burst from all four men at once.
The others probably used words meaning the same thing. At any rate, they talked excitedly, and pointed to the opposite side of the basin, where was moored a raft of logs.
Two men with a yoke of oxen were in the act of hauling one of these from the water, and a deeply marked trail, leading up the bank to a point of disappearance, showed where a number of its predecessors had gone.
"Give way!" cried Peveril, and the skiff sped across the basin.
As it ranged alongside the moored raft, the young leader recognized the deep-cut mark of the White Pine Mine on one floating stick after another.
"Hold on!" he shouted. "Where are you going with that log?"