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well be imagined, there was, at the start of this voyage, more excitement aboard the Albatross than at any time since the eventful cruise had been begun, save, perhaps, during the time when it was thought that Tim Muldoon was drowned. Dick was eager to make speed to the island where the kidnapped youth was said to be, and, after that, he had it in mind to chase after the kidnappers, if he could get a clew to their whereabouts. This, however, he feared would be difficult.

As for Captain Barton, and the others, they, too, were all as anxious as was the owner of the yacht to effect the rescue, and, as the craft sailed over the heaving ocean, the boys talked of little else as the hours passed, save what would happen when they found the marooned youth.

Senor Alantrez took up his position near the bows, peering eagerly forward, as if to get the first glimpse of the lonely island where his son was supposed to be. The yacht, though it was making good time, seemed to him barely to be crawling through the water.