The weather was calm enough now, save for a heavy ground swell. The
waters were marvelously blue, and overhead was the blue sky. Seen
against the background of the wonderfully tinted hills of palms, the
city of San Juan presented a most beautiful picture.

"Well, let's get busy," suggested Jack, and it was only by keeping
thus occupied, mentally and physically, that he and his sister, as
well as the twins, were enabled not to succumb to the grief that
racked them. Belle, rather more nervous and temperamental than her
sister, did give way to a little hysterical crying spell, as they
were on their way back to the marina from the steamer, but this was
due merely to a reaction.

"Don't, dear," said Cora, softly. "We'll find them, never fear!"

She put her arms about her chum, and Inez slipped a slim brown hand
into one of Belles. Then the wave of emotion passed, and the girl
was herself again.

"Are you going out for a long cruise?" asked Walter, "or shall you
come back to San Juan from time to time? I ask, because I want to
send word to my folks not to worry, if they don't hear from me very
often."

"I think we'll cruise as long as we can," said Cora, who had assumed
as much of the burden of the search as had her brother. "If the
Tartar is large enough to allow us to take a big enough supply--of
provisions and stores, we'll cruise until we--well, until we find out
for certain what has happened."