“Briggs,” said Jones, “you go back and start the launch down the creek by itself. Then they won’t know where we are.”
Briggs hastened to obey, and a moment later the _Sybil_ was moving out of sight around another bend.
Taking advantage of a moment when Jones was not looking, Mabel quietly hung her white handkerchief upon a bush. It was in plain view of the creek.
Shirley saw her friend’s action, but dared not show she had, by even the slightest change of expression.
Meanwhile, where was the second launch and crew? Even going at full speed, it was plainly evident to all on board that there was little prospect of overtaking the _Sybil_.
When the party had returned to the bank of the stream after an unsuccessful search of the little woods, it had not needed the wave of Shirley’s hand from the _Sybil_ to tell them what had happened. It was Dick who spoke first.
“They have doubled back on their tracks and captured the girls and the launch,” he exclaimed when he noticed Shirley and Mabel were nowhere to be seen.
The others cried out in alarm. In the distance they could see the launch speeding down the stream. It was at that moment Shirley rose and waved to them. Leonard’s keen eyes caught the signal, and he cried out:
“Into the other launch quick and after them!”
Hastily jumping aboard, the second launch was put into motion and they gave chase at full speed.
“It’s no use,” said Jenkins. “We can’t catch them. As I told you, the _Sybil_ can outrun anything in these parts.”
“We’ll keep after them anyhow,” said Dick. “You never can tell what will happen. They may meet with an accident.”
And so the five continued their apparently hopeless pursuit. An hour later, Leonard, who stood in the extreme bow of the launch, straining his eyes ahead, exclaimed aloud. The others looked at him eagerly, and he pointed straight ahead.
“There’s the _Sybil_,” he cried. “She’s run ashore. They must have landed.”
A few minutes later the launch ran up alongside the _Sybil_ and all jumped out.
“If we only knew which way they went,” said Leonard.
Dick had been looking at the ground carefully. In the soft mud there was not a single footprint. Dick looked at the engine of the _Sybil_. It was still running.
“They didn’t land here,” he said quietly.