Here were sticks which had formed the timbers of their huts; there were pieces of clothing and cooking-utensils; and here and there, partly buried by the shifting sands, were seen the bodies of Rackbirds, already desiccated by the dry air and the hot sun of the region.

But the captain saw no vessel.
"Dat up here," said Cheditafa.

"Dey hide dat well.

Come 'long, captain." Following his black guide, the captain skirted a little promontory of rocks, and behind it found a cove in which, well concealed, lay the Rackbirds' vessel.

It was a sloop of about twenty tons, and from the ocean, or even from the beach, it could not be seen.