"Didn't it all happen suddenly?" remarked Bob. "One minute we were at the dock, waiting for Silas to come back, and then, all at once, the storm came up, we broke loose, and had started to drift. It all seems like a dream."
"I wish it was a dream," murmured Frank, "and that we'd wake up in Barnacle Cottage."
"I wonder if anyone could have cut or loosened our rope," spoke Sammy, as though he were thinking of something.
"What makes you say that?" asked Frank quickly. "The rope broke—that's what happened."
"I don't know about that," went on Sammy, mysteriously. "If a person had been on that dock, and saw the boat tied there, it would be very easy to slip the rope off the post."
"Yes, that's true enough," admitted Frank. "But who would do such a mean thing as that; especially when a storm was coming up, and we would be in danger? Who would do such a thing?"
"Well, the queer old professor who drove us away," answered Sammy.
"There! I knew he was going to say that!" cried Bob.
"Oh, well, of course I'm not saying for sure," spoke Sammy, quickly. "But it might have happened. If that old man had been around he might have thought that was a good chance to get rid of us, so we wouldn't bother him again."
"Well, that's all foolishness!" exclaimed Bob. "And, even if he did it, I'm not going to bother him again, anyhow."
"I am!" declared Sammy. "I'm going to find out what he knows about pirate gold!"
Frank and Bob laughed at him, but Sammy was very much in earnest.
On and on drifted the Skip, driven by wind and tide. The night wore on, and the boys, unable to stay up any longer, went to the bunks to rest, lashing the steering wheel to keep
