Page:The Missing Chums.djvu/72

66 before they might have been swept swiftly down onto the treacherous reef.

"That'll teach me to watch where I'm going," said Frank, as he sat back and mopped his brow.

"There was mighty near a lot more wreckage on that reef," remarked Slim soberly. "The boat wouldn't have lasted long if we'd piled up on those rocks."

"I'll say it wouldn't! I think we'd better get away from here. We'll never be able to get close enough to identify that wreckage. Might as well go on up the coast."

They drew up alongside the Napoli and, after discussing the narrow escape they had just had from being cast up on the reef, acquainted the other boys with their decision to continue the search.

"There's no use trying to get closer to that wreckage," declared Frank. "It's all in small pieces and we probably wouldn't be able to say whether it was from the Envoy or not, if we did reach it. We may as well go on up the coast and keep making inquiries at the other villages."

This plan they followed, but to no avail.

Their inquiries were fruitless. The Envoy, with Chet and Biff, seemed to have vanished into thin air. At none of the fishing villages were they able to find any one who had seen