"I doubt if he'll ever get about again." The safe now engaged the boys' attention.

It is true that it was a rickety old contrivance which might well have been forced open with an ordinary poker, but to the captain, up to this day, it had been a repository as safe and secure as a big Wall Street trust company's vaults.
"Look at that, boys!" cried the captain, with tragic emphasis, pointing to the door, which had been forced clear off its rusty hinges.

"Just busted open like yer'd taken the crust off'n a pie! Ah, if I could lay my hands on the fellers that done this, I'd run 'em tip ter the yardarm afore a foc'sle hand could say 'Hard tack'!" "Why, we think that--" began Tubby, when Rob checked him.

The captain, who had been bending over his dog, didn't hear the remark, and Rob hastily whispered to Tubby: "Don't breathe a word to anyone of our suspicions.

Our only chance to get hold of the real culprits is to not give them any idea that we suspect them." After a little more time spent on the island, the boys took their leave, promising to come back soon again.