we'll need every inch of room? I guess not! We'll all get down to
light marching equipment. Just take what you can put in a suit-case.
That's what Wally and I are going to do."

"Oh, but boys are so different; aren't they, Inez?"

"It matters not to me. A few things are all I have."

The Spanish girl looked helplessly and almost hopelessly at the
opened valise. And then, as Jack and Walter went out to and what
they could learn by cautious questions, the two girls "tidied up" the
room, and went to tell Bess and Belle the news.

Jack and Walter could learn but little. Senor Ramo had departed
suddenly, alleging a business call as an excuse for leaving the
island on a steamer that sailed soon after the arrival of the one he
had come in on. That was about all that could be safely learned.

Little else could be done, now, toward making plans for the rescue of
the father of Inez. When Mr. Robinson was located, he might have
something to suggest, but now all energies must be bent on the rescue
work.

The news soon spread through the hotel that the "amazing Americans"
were about to undertake a most desperate venture--that of cruising
about in the blue waters of the Caribbean Sea, in search of their
relatives who might have been able to save themselves from the
wrecked ship. After a first glance at the map, and a consideration
of the situation, Jack had voted for the inside, or Caribbean route,
as being less likely to offer danger from storms.