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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/12878-0.txt b/12878-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..20e8831 --- /dev/null +++ b/12878-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5930 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12878 *** + +RADIO BOYS IN THE THOUSAND ISLANDS + +or, The Yankee-Canadian Wireless Trail + +by + +J. W. DUFFIELD + +Author of + +RADIO BOYS IN THE SECRET SERVICE; or, Cast Away on an Iceberg. +RADIO BOYS IN THE FLYING SERVICE; or, Held For Ransom by Mexican Bandits. +RADIO BOYS IN THE ROCKIES; or, The Mystery of the Lost Valley. + +1922 + + + + + + + +CONTENTS + + +Chapter + + I Vacation Plans + + II Tragedy or Joke + + III Talking it over + + IV The Catwhisker + + V A Baffling Situation + + VI A Mystery and Cub's "Goat" + + VII Returning Cub's "Goat" + + VIII Mathematics or Geography? + + IX The Radio Diagram + + X The Island-Surrounded Island + + XI The Deserted Camp + + XII Hal's Discovery + + XIII "Robinson Crusoe's" Diary + + XIV More Light and More Mystery + + XV The Hook-up on Shore + + XVI Running down a Radio Fake + + XVII Bud's Discovery + + XVIII Unwelcome Visitors + + XIX "S.O.S." from Friday Island + + XX Four Prisoners + + XXI The Hostage + + XXII The "Crusoe Mystery" Deepens + + XXIII "Sweating" the Prisoner + + XXIV "Something Happens" + + XXV Bud Shoots + + XXVI The Slingshot Victim + + XXVII Chased out + +XXVIII A Radio Eavesdropper + + XXIX The End of the "Mystery" + + XXX The Result of a Radio Hazing + + + + +CHAPTER I + +Vacation Plans + + +"Now, fellows, what are we goin' to do this vacation?" demanded Cub Perry +as he leaned back in his upholstered reed rocker and hoisted his size 8 +shoes onto the foot of his bedstead. "School's all over, we've all passed +our exams, and now we've got a long vacation before us with nothing to +do. It's up to yo-uns to map out a program." + +"Why can't you help map it out?" asked Bud Taylor with something of a +challenge in his voice. "You always have the last word?" + +"Cub's the dictator of our outfit, and we do the work, that's why," +declared Hal Stone. "We always have to listen to him, you know that, Bud. +So what's the use o' kickin'?" + +"Oh, I'm not kickin'," Bud replied. "It's no use. Cub 'u'd drown us out +with his voice if we hollered. You know you made 'im admit once that +noise was the only thing that 'u'd convince him." + +"You c'n change that now and call it static instead of noise since we've +all become radio experts," smirked Cub with characteristic superiority. + +"Ha, ha," laughed Bud. + +"Tee-hee," tittered Hal. + +By the way, it was from this peculiar manner of laugh, that Hal got his +nickname, Tee-hee. Cub's given name was Robert, shortened sometimes to +Bob and Bud's was Roy. Cub and Bud were always known by their nicknames, +but Hal was addressed as Tee-hee only on fitting or intermittent +occasions. + +The three boys were seated in Cub's room at the Perry home, one of the +largest and most interesting samples of domestic architecture in the City +of Oswego, on the shore of Lake Ontario. Cub was a rich man's son, but he +was constitutionally, almost grotesquely, democratic. There was nothing +that would make him angrier, to all appearance at least, than open +reference in conversation to the wealth of his father. For such offense +he was ever ready to "take off the head" of the offender. However, once +in a while one of the bolder of his friends would beard the lion in his +den more or less successfully. But it was necessary for such venturesome +person to be ever in command of ready wit in order to emerge with a whole +skin, figuratively speaking, and Bud and Tee-hee were the real leaders of +this victorious few. That was the reason why they were chums of Cub. + +The fact of the matter, to be perfectly frank, was that Cub was a good +deal of an actor. Whether he was conscious of this fact we will not +venture to say. He is the only one who knows, and we have never broached +the subject to him. The average person on first making his acquaintance +doubtless would set him down as a very domineering youth; some might even +call him a bully, but they would change their minds eventually if the +acquaintance continued. Perhaps the best way one could judge Cub, without +being Cub himself, would be to characterize him as being fond of playing +the bully just for fun. Indeed, it is quite probable that Cub carried a +perpetual laugh in his sleeve. + +This dominant youth was tall and lanky. He was only 17 years old, but as +big as a man, so far as altitude and the size of his feet were concerned. +He lacked one inch of being six feet tall, and he wore size 8 shoes. The +hope for his proportion was expansion, and judging from the hereditary +history of his paternal ancestry, there was good prospect for him in this +regard. His father was a large man and well built. + +To complete the description of Cub, he was a youth of very wise +countenance. He liked to read "highbrow stuff" and reflect and inflict it +on such victims as were unable to counter his domination. + +Bud was a short, quick, snappy, bold fellow, "built on the ground". It +is possible that he might have upset Cub in a surprise wrestle, but +nobody ever dared to "mix" with Cub in such manner; the lanky fellow +seemed to be able to out-countenance any suggestion of physical +hostility. The glower of his face seemed to spell subjection for all the +boy world about him. + +But Bud would blurt out something now and then that seemed to startle Cub +into a mood of reflection, and whenever Cub reflected his dominance +wavered. Tee-hee was able to accomplish the same effect without a +"blurt". Tee-hee was sly, "as sly as they make 'em", but it was a kind of +slyness that commands respect. It even gave an air of respectability to +his laugh, for, ordinarily, a "tee-hee" sounds silly. But Hal's "tee-hee" +was constitutional with him, and his sly shrewdness gave it real dignity. + +Cub was usually the dominating factor in all the boy arguments of their +"bunch", which varied in numbers from ten to twenty, according to the +motive of interest that drew them together. He seldom started an +argument, unless his disposition to "bawl" somebody out for uttering a, +to him, foolish opinion, he regarded as a starter. He seldom spoke first, +but usually last. One day he "bawled" Tee-hee for the latter's "silly +laugh", telling him that he would never be a man unless he learned to +"laugh from his lungs". + +"You seem to like a lot of noise," Hal observed. + +"Yes, it's the only thing that convinces me," Cub shot back rashly. + +He realized his rashness, but it was too late. Tee-hee "got" him. + +"I understand you now," the sly youth announced. "Whenever we have +a dispute, the only way for me to win is to make a bigger noise +than you do." + +But Cub was not slow, and he evened matters up by roaring: + +"You can't do it; you ain't got the lungs." + +However, there was a serious side to this trio of radio boys. They were +not known chiefly for their frivolity, which probably would have +characterized them if they had got into any bad scrapes. Their deportment +was really above reproach, so that their parents reposed a good deal of +confidence in them and allowed them to do pretty much as they wished in +the matter of their recreation and sports. On the occasion with which the +narrative opens we find them very serious minded over a very important +problem, although it seemed well nigh impossible for them, even under +such circumstances, to bar severely all manner of gaieties. + +"I don't see where there's anything new for us to do this summer," said +Bud after the merriment over the "static repartee" with Cub had subsided. +"We c'n go camping or fishin', or we c'n stay at home and listen in." + +"Oh, you haven't got any invention in that head o' yours, Bud," declared +Cub with tone of disgust. "Tee-hee, take your turn and see if you can't +hand us somethin'." + +"Aw, why don't you furnish some brains for us, Cub," Bud objected with +spirit. "I never knew you to yet. You just razz us till we turn up the +thing all of us wants, and then you act as if you'd done all the work." + +"Well, what do I pay you for?" Cub demanded, with an air of final +judgment. + +Of course, Cub did not pay them anything; that was just a little evidence +of his exasperating domination. Bud saw, as usual, that there was no use +of trying to carry his protest further, so he gave way to Hal, who looked +as if eager to take his turn. + +"I tell you what let's do," proposed the latter. "Let's go campin' and +take one of our radio sets with us." + +Cub leaped to his feet enthusiastically, bringing his feet down on the +floor with a force that seemed to jar the whole house. Fortunately there +was a substantial rug between his descending number 8's and the floor. + +"That's what I call brains, Tee-hee," he declared, reaching over and +planting a hearty slap on the author of this ingenuity. "You deserve a +bonus. The scheme is hereby adopted." + +"Without consulting me?" demanded Bud with very good simulation of +hurt dignity. + +"Absolutely, Bud, you fell asleep and let Tee-hee get ahead of you." + +"And meanwhile, what did you do?" Bud inquired pointedly. + +"I sat in judgment over your suggestions," Cub replied readily. "You +fellows needed somebody to decide what your suggestions were worth. +That's my function--get me?--my function." + +"Well, I was goin' to vote for Tee-hee's idea," said Bud with slight tone +of resentment. "You might 'ave let me get my vote in." + +"It wasn't needed, it wasn't needed," Cub ruled. "Two's a majority +of three." + +"I'm going to vote for it anyway. I think his idea is a dandy." + +"Your vote is accepted and recorded as surplus noise." + +"Static, you mean," Bud suggested with modest sarcasm. + +"To be up to date, yes." + +"Tee-hee," laughed Tee-hee. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +Tragedy or Joke? + + +The three boys discussed vacation plans along the line suggested by Hal +for half an hour, and then Cub said: + +"We can't get any further on this subject to-night. It's nearly 8 +o'clock; Let's go in the radio room and listen to some opera music +for a while." + +He led the way into an adjoining apartment, a veritable radio laboratory. +Two years before, as a wireless amateur, Cub had built for himself in +this room an elaborate sending and receiving set, and he proved to be one +of the first, boy though he was, to appreciate the outlook for the +radiophone, even before "the craze" had gripped the country. He soon had +his father almost as much interested in the subject as himself, so that +the question of financing his latest radio ambition was no serious +obstacle. An early result of this active interest on his part was the +addition of a receiving amplification with which he could listen in to +messages from major-power stations in the remotest parts of the country. +Indeed, under favorable conditions, he had picked up messages from as far +distant points as Edinburgh, Scotland, and Australia. + +Cub sat down at the table and tuned to 360 meters. The other boys seated +themselves comfortably and waited with a kind of luxurious contentment +for the beginning of the program, which came in a few minutes. They "sat +through" the entire Westinghouse program and then Cub began to "tune up +and down" to find out what else was going on in the air. The room for +several minutes was resonant with a succession of squeaks, squawks, +whines, growls, dots-and-dashes, whistles, and musical notes. Suddenly he +gave a start that aroused the curiosity of his friends and made them more +attentive to his actions. + +"Did you get that?" he shouted. + +"No," replied Bud and Hal, in chorus, springing forward. + +Cub was tuning excitedly back and forth about a certain, or uncertain, +wave length, which he had lost. + +"Put on your 'phones," he said, putting on his own. "You may not get it +through the horn. I'm sure I got an SOS, very faint. I'm going to try to +get it again." + +Bud and Hal did as directed and listened with quite as much eagerness as +that which was evident in Cub's manner. Several minutes elapsed before +the search was rewarded. Then at last, in fairly distinct, although +faint, vibrations came the distress signal again. All three heard it, and +this time Cub caught the wave "on the knob" and did not let it go. + +The operator sending the distress signal was evidently pleading +desperately for attention, which nobody, it seemed, was willing to give +to him. Several times he repeated his SOS, following each repetition with +his own private call and wave length. Then he broadcast the following +message in explanation of his appeal for help: + +"I am marooned on island in Lake of Thousand Isles. I landed here from a +motor boat with wireless outfit. Lake thieves stole my boat and left me +here with outfit and little food. Will starve in few days if I don't get +help. My call is V A X." + +"Cracky!" exclaimed Bud excitedly. "Isn't that a thriller! He's an +amateur and in trouble. We're in honor bound to help him." + +"How?" demanded Cub derisively. "What can we do here nearly two hundred +miles away from him?" + +"We might get word to some police or lake patrol that'll go and take him +off," Hal suggested. + +"He's a Canadian," objected Cub. "Didn't you get his Canadian call? We'd +have the time of our life getting a Government station to pay any +attention to us hams. But listen, somebody's calling him." + +All three listened-in eagerly, expectantly, wonderingly. Apparently +this fellow also was a Canadian amateur, although he failed to +identify himself. + +"Oh, come off, you can't get by with that Robinson Crusoe stuff in this +twentieth century," he "jeered" with all the pep he could put into his +spark. "Some joke you're trying to play. What kind of publicity stunt is +this, anyway?" + +"No publicity," was "Crusoe's" reply. "I'll starve if I don't get +help. You're doing your best to kill me. Keep out, I won't talk to you +any more." + +"I will not keep out," declared the other. "You're an imposter. I'm +protecting the public." + +"Whew!" ejaculated Cub, wiping his brow and snapping over the aerial +switch. "I'm going to find out something about this." + +A moment later his right hand was working the sending key with the speed +and skill of an expert, while blue flames leaped over the gap with +spiteful alphabetic spits. Hal and Bud watched him eagerly, and, with a +skill indicating long and studied practice, read the message their lanky +friend shot through the ether. + +First he tuned for a few moments and then sent the call which had +accompanied the first Canadian's "SOS". Then he threw back the switch and +received a speedy answer. There seemed to be an almost spasmodic +eagerness in the manner in which he sent his acknowledgment. + +"I heard your call for help," was Cub's next cast. "Who was that fellow +that snapped you up so sassy?" + +"I don't know," answered the professed castaway. "I've been trying to get +help for more than a day, and he always breaks in and queers my call. He +makes everybody think I'm putting up a prank." + +"Where is your island?" asked Cub. + +"Somewhere in the Thousand Islands. That's the best I can locate it. I've +never been here before. Where are you?" + +"At Oswego, New York." + +"What's your call?" + +"A V L." + +"Can you do anything for me?" + +"I don't know what I can do unless I try to interest somebody near you by +wireless. I'll send out a broadcast in any manner you may suggest. But +you can do that just as well as I." + +"I have done it over and over, but it does not do any good," said +"Crusoe". "That evil genius of mine always manages to queer me. Finally I +got so desperate that I sent out an SOS." + +"And committed a radio crime," broke in the alleged evil genius. "Don't +you know the rules governing that distress signal?" + +"There he is again," "Crusoe" dot-and-dashed. + +"Who are you?" demanded Cub. + +"I am Canadian amateur," was the reply. "That fellow who sent the +distress signal is a Canadian college student trying to put over a +college prank. I am on his trail to prevent him. We have a wager up; if +he induces anybody to go to his rescue, I lose." + +"That is not true," interposed the sender of the SOS. + +"What is your call?" Cub inquired. + +"Yes, give it to him, and tell him what college I am from," proposed the +"fellow on the island". + +"One of the conditions of our wager is that I must not reveal my +identity," returned the anonymous amateur. "He's bound by like terms. He +does not dare give you his name and address." + +"That fellow is insane or a villain," declared "Crusoe". "I do not know +who he is, but if I starve to death, he'll be a wanton murderer. My name +is Raymond Flood. I am not a college student. I am a high school student +at Kingston." + +"Is his name Raymond Flood?" was Cub's next query intended for the +anonymous amateur. + +"No," was the latter's reply. + +"What is it?" + +"Under terms of our wager, I must not reveal his name and he must not +reveal mine." + +"Whew!" exclaimed Cub, addressing his two friends, who removed the phones +from their ears, the better to hear him. "Can you beat that?" + +"We sure have hit a sensation of some sort," Hal declared. +"What'll we do?" + +"I don't know what under the sun to do," Cub replied. "I don't like to +pass him up, for fear he may be telling the truth; and yet, I don't like +to be the victim of a joke." + +"I tell you what to do," Bud suggested, without any seriousness of +intent, however. "Make a dash over the lake in your father's motor boat +and rescue this Robinson Crusoe." + +"By Jiminie, Bud!" exclaimed Cub enthusiastically! "You've hit the nail +on the head. Our vacation problem is solved. That's what we'll do, all of +us. I don't care whether it's a joke or a tragedy; we'll make a voyage of +discovery over that way and see if we can't find Crusoe's island. What +say you, fellows?" + + + + +CHAPTER III + +Talking It Over + + +What could the fellows say? + +They couldn't say anything at first, so astonished were they at the +announcement from Cub. Then so great was their eagerness, following the +recovery from their astonishment that about all they could do was to +"fall over each other" in their efforts to express their approval. + +At last, however, the "panic of joy" subsided, and they began to sift out +the obstacles that must naturally obtrude themselves in the way of such a +scheme that involved such departure from the ordinary course of events. + +"Do you think your father will let us go?" asked Hal somewhat +apprehensively. + +"We've taken trips alone before," Cub reminded. + +"Yes, but only for short trips along the shore or up the canal," Hal +replied. "Ontario's a rough lake, you know." + +"Yes, but safe enough if you're used to it," Bud reasoned, coming to the +aid of his lanky friend. "If necessary, we could follow the bend of the +shore all the way and never get out of sight of land." + +"That would make the trip longer and consequently take so much more time +to get there," reasoned Cub. + +"Time's precious in a case like this," Hal averred. "Remember that we +must get up there in time to save a fellow with no food on hand from +getting an empty stomach." + +"How long would the trip take?" asked Bud. + +"Well, let's see," said Cub, picking up a pencil and beginning to figure +on a tab of paper before him. "The Catwhisker can make twelve miles an +hour under favorable conditions. We could start early in the morning and +reach the Thousand Islands surely by noon, and then have the rest of the +day to hunt for Mr. Robinson Crusoe." + +"It might be like hunting for a needle in a haystack," suggested Hal +dubiously. + +"Why shouldn't we be able to find him?" Cub demanded. + +"It depends on how well Mr. Crusoe can describe his surroundings for us +and how well we can follow directions," Hal argued. + +"That's true enough," Cub admitted. "Let's see if I can get 'im again and +what he can tell us." + +He had no difficulty in picking up the "desperate Mr. Crusoe" again, for +the latter proved to be "sparking" the ether with frantic calls in search +of the radio boy on whom he believed he had made a serious impression, +but who seemed, for some unhappy reason, to have forgotten him. + +"I was just discussing your case with a couple of friends," Cub +explained. "We thought we might make a run down your way in a motor boat +if you could give us a clear idea where your island is located." + +"I can't give you any latitude and longitude," was the "islander's" +reply. "I was captured in my motor boat only a mile or two away from +home. Then I was blindfolded and put here on this island by the rascals. +It's a small wooded island surrounded by several other small wooded +islands, making it impossible for me to hail passing boats. I will be +glad to pay your expenses and enough more to make it worth your while if +you will find me and get me away from here." + +"I don't know how we'd find you without cruising among the +Thousand Islands a week or two," returned Cub. "Have you a flag of +distress flying?" + +"It wouldn't do any good. Nobody would see it." + +"Oh, I have an idea!" suddenly exclaimed Hal, for he and Bud had put +their receivers back on their ears when Cub began to communicate with +"Mr. Crusoe" once more. + +"Hold the wireless while I talk with my friends," Cub directed to the +fellow "at the other end of the ether". Then he removed the phones from +his ears, and the other boys did likewise. + +"Well, what's your idea, Tee-hee?" the operator demanded with something +of a tone of business challenge. + +"Why, all we need is a radio compass," Hal replied. "You know I made one +last summer, although I didn't have much use for it. We can install it on +the boat and make a bee line for that fellow's island if he keeps his +spark busy to guide us." + +"Good!" exclaimed Bud. "That'll settle the biggest problem before us." + +"Yes," Cub agreed. "You're a regular Thomas Edison, Jr., Tee-hee. I think +we'll have to elect you captain of this expedition." + +"If we make it," Bud conditioned with a slightly skeptical grin. + +"My opinion, if it's worth anything to you guys," said Cub; "is that we'd +better map out our plan thoroughly before we say anything about it to our +fathers. Then we can put our arguments in convincing manner." + +"We must finish our plan to-night, for we ought to start not later than +Wednesday morning," Bud argued. "That'll give us one day to get ready +in." + +"We'll need all that," said Hal. "Now, let's get busy, boys, and see how +near our plan is finished. It's after 10 o'clock, and I'll have to go +pretty soon. If we go, we'll need--" + +"Some food," itemized Bud. + +"Yes, enough for us and to feed a starving Robinson Crusoe," amended Cub, +beginning the list on a fresh sheet of paper. + +"And drinking water." + +"No. 2," commented Cub, as he jotted it down. + +"And we ought to have a wireless set on hand," Hal suggested. + +"Sure," said Cub. "You bring that and your loop aerial. This set is too +big to transfer on board very well." + +"That about completes the list, doesn't it?" asked Bud. + +"We'll have to have a permit," said Hal. + +"Permit for what?" Bud inquired. + +"A permit from Mr. Perry to go." + +"You're kidding now," said Bud. "Maybe you think this is all a joke." + +"I'm afraid it is, but I'll eat my words--and glad to do it--if Cub's +father and our fathers let us go." + +"We've all got some persuading to do, there's no doubt o' that," Cub +admitted; "but I hope we'll succeed. I'll talk to father in the morning +at the breakfast table and call you fellows up an' let you know what he +says. Now I'll call Mr. Robinson Crusoe again and tell 'im I'll call 'im +in the morning and let 'im know what we can do." + +He had no difficulty in getting the "island prisoner" again, for the +latter was waiting eagerly for a message of hope. Cub, however, was +cautious in this regard, saying nothing about the plan of himself and his +two radio friends. He merely told "Mr. Crusoe" that he would do the best +he could for him and would call him next day, specifying the hour. Then +Bud and Hal went their separate ways homeward. + +At 8:30 next morning Cub called Hal on the telephone and inquired: + +"Hello, Hal, did you talk to your folks about our plan?" + +"Yes," was the reply; "and I just got through talking with Bud over the +wire before you called up." + +"Well, how does it stand?" + +"His folks won't let him go and my folks won't let me go unless some +experienced man goes along with us." + +"Hooray! we win!" yelled Cub. "Father thinks it's a peach of an adventure +and he's almost as crazy over it as we were last night. He says 'yes' +with a capital Y, and he'll go along with us. He says he's been wanting a +vacation with some pep in it for quite a while, and this scheme of ours +is ninety-nine per cent pep. If you and Bud don't go, father and I are +going anyway. So get busy as fast as you can. We're off this afternoon, +as early as we can get ready. I've already sent a wireless to Crusoe that +we're coming. Good-bye; I'm going to call Bud now. Be over here as soon +as you can and help us get ready." + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +The Catwhisker + + +The Catwhisker, a neat gasoline power boat of the cruiser type left the +private dock of the Perry home in Oswego early in the afternoon with the +three radio boys and Mr. Perry on board. This had meant some rapid work +by the members of the "rescue party" in preparation for the trip, for it +was necessary for them to do considerable buying in the line of +provisions and the transportation of a number of articles of incidental +convenience, together with one complete sending and receiving wireless +outfit. The hook-up of this outfit, on the boat, however, was left for a +more leisurely occupation after all other preparations for the cruise +were completed and they were well on their way. + +The name Catwhisker harked back to the days when radio, or wireless +telegraphy, was in its infancy in the experience of the three boys whose +adventures are the inspiration of this volume. Mr. Perry bought the motor +boat at a time when his son and the latter's two chums were busy +experimenting with crystal outfits, and the name of the cruiser was +suggested to them by the fine spring-wires used to make contact with the +crystals in their detectors. No doubt, it was the catchiness of the word, +as well as its association with their hobby, that appealed to them in the +general search for a name for the boat. + +This vessel was 36 feet long, with a beam of nine feet and with a canopy +covering the after deck. Amidships was a raised bridge deck on which were +mounted and housed the wheel and engine controls. Under this and the +after deck were the engine-room and the galley, and forward of these were +the cabin and two small staterooms. At the bow and in the stern were two +tall slim masts that had been erected solely for the extension of a radio +aerial. The hull was painted white with a blue stripe midway between the +bridge-deck level and the water line. + +Cub and his father were real chums in matters of boating. Mr. Perry, +although ordinarily a man of very neat appearance, on the present +occasion had discarded his usual sartorial excellence and appeared on the +Catwhisker in clothes easily associated with cotton waste and oil cans. +Indeed, he could take care of the engine quite as well as his son, who +was an amateur expert, and seemed to enjoy discharging his full share, of +all the "overall and apron tasks" on board. + +Mr. Perry took charge of the wheel and engine controls of the yacht at +the beginning of the cruise, so that his son and the other two boys were +left free to perfect the hook-up of the radio set supplied by Hal. First, +two wires, attached to spreaders at both ends, were extended between the +two masts for an aerial, and a lead-in was arranged through one of the +windows of the cabin. On a fixed table near this window they anchored +firmly the various portions of Hal's sending and receiving set, in order +that these might not be thrown down and damaged if the lake should become +rough. As the apparatus was supplied with two steps of amplification, Hal +had brought also a loud-tone horn to facilitate occasional parlor +entertainment should they have leisure to listen-in to programs from +various broadcasting stations within their receiving range in the course +of their cruise. + +Hal's outfit was by no means as elaborate or as expensive as was Cub's, +but it was sufficient to receive radiophone programs, under favorable +conditions, from the strongest stations 300 or 400 miles distant, while +the strong spark of his code transmitter had earned for him a wide +acquaintance in amateur circles. + +Before they started, Cub had another dot-and-dash tete-a-tete with "Mr. +Crusoe", acquainting the latter with the latest developments of their +plan and requesting him to call the Catwhisker regularly at half-hour +intervals if the more limited set they would take with them proved +insufficient to reach him from the start. + +"When we reach the Thousand Islands, we will get busy with our loop +aerial and find you by radio compass," he promised. + +The mysterious intermeddler who professed to have a sporting wager with +the "island prisoner," was on hand with a machine-gun stream derisive +waves, but Cub refused to pay any attention to him, not that he regarded +that fellow's version of the affair as utterly unworthy of consideration, +but, for the time being, at least, he did not wish to believe it. He was +eager for the adventure, which might be spoiled if his father became +convinced that "Mr. Crusoe's" SOS was a gambling hoax. + +The boys took regular turns at the radio table in the cabin that +afternoon and found the occupation of listening-in much more interesting +than it had been at their homes, not because of any particular difference +in the messages, but because of the more romantic character of their new +motives and surroundings. Even the multitude of static interferences that +swarmed the atmosphere on this, the first oppressively hot day of the +season, were combatted with tuning coil, condenser, and detector, so +confidently, although with poor success, that Mr. Perry pronounced them +all "princes of patience". + +In other words, the boys were in the best of spirits, all handicaps +notwithstanding. Cub's father had not taken his first lesson in wireless +telegraphy, and so left the radio field entirely to the three young +amateur experts. In spite of the heat, they were able to get a more or +less broken message now and then from the "island prisoner", but could +get no acknowledgment of receipt of messages sent by them until about +supper time. + +"If it weren't for this heat, we probably could 'ave got a message to him +as we were leaving Oswego," Cub remarked to Bud after they had been on +the lake about two hours. + +"The atmosphere is the worst I've ever known it to be," returned Bud, who +had been laboring hard with key and spark for some time. "If it don't +clear up, we may not be able to begin our hunt for him before morning." + +"Well, we'll go along until half an hour before dark, I suppose, and then +find a place to tie up till morning," said Cub. + +He consulted his father on the subject, and the latter indorsed the plan. + +The lake was rather choppy, in spite of the calmness of the day; +consequently, the Catwhisker was unable to make a record run to the head +of the St. Lawrence River. Ontario is not a placid lake, although it has +not the heavy roughness that characterizes Lake Huron. A strong current +is driven through its middle by the flood of the upper lakes after its +plunge over Niagara Falls, and along the shores is a back-sweep of eddies +and swirls. Hence the pilots and shippers of small boats on the lake, if +they are wise, keep their weather eyes well peeled for any disturbance +that may augment the natural roughness of this body of water. + +Mr. Perry and his three boy companions were all well aware of the wisdom +of weather caution while cruising in the Catwhisker. In the morning +before starting, they had consulted the Government forecast and found the +outlook favorable, but they were well aware of the fact that absolute +dependence should not be put upon even so learned a being as a Great +Lakes weather man. + +Bud made the first score in the frequent attempts to get a message to the +"island prisoner". Conditions in the ether became much better toward +evening when a cool wind began to blow. Just before sending the message +that reached its goal, Bud received the following from VAX: + +"Where are you? Can't you reach me? Nobody in sight yet. Ate my last +crust of bread an hour ago. Have to drink lake water to keep alive. Try +again to get a message to me." + +Bud tried again and received the following reply: + +"Got you faintly. Try again. Where are you?" + +But fifteen minutes elapsed before the boy at the key was able to score +again. After that, however, they had no difficulty in reaching "Crusoe +island" with key and spark. + +Then arose the question as to whether they should attempt to find the +"radio Crusoe's" island that evening or should seek a suitable mooring +place and postpone the search until morning. + +"There's one matter to be taken up before we decide to go much further +to-night," said Mr. Perry, who had just turned the wheel over to Hal and +joined the conference in the cabin. + +"What's that?" asked Cub. + +"The weather. We're right at the beginning of the Thousand Isles now, but +we can have a nasty time of it anywhere in the upper part of the river in +a storm. The wind is getting pretty lively, and you know how much the +temperature has dropped." + +"Oh, I can take care of that," Bud declared eagerly. "I've been having a +chat with a 'ham' somewhere along the coast. I'm sure he'll get the +evening forecast for me." + +As he spoke, Bud dropped his eye on the log where he had made note of the +shore "ham's" call and then began to tune for his wave length. To his +gratification, he found the fellow busy with his spark and waited till +the message was finished; then he threw his aerial switch into sending +and lettered the call. The "ham" answered and asked what was wanted. + +"I want the weather forecast for to-night," Bud replied. "We're out in a +motor boat and want to know if it's safe to stay out till dark." + +"I'll get the latest by telephone and call you back in a few minutes," +was the operator's generous offer. + +Ten minutes later the promised call came, thus: + +"Clear to-night. Wind brisk, but not violent." + +Cub was listening-in and read this message to his father. + +"That means we can go on nearly three hours yet before we have to seek a +post for the night," the latter announced. + +"Good!" exclaimed Cub. "Now I'm going to test that radio compass and see +what may be expected of it in the morning if we don't find Mr. Crusoe +to-night, which isn't very likely." + +Preparation for the test was simple and quickly made. The loop aerial, a +collapsible affair, was set up in the cabin and connected in such manner +that it could be used for receiving simultaneously with the use of the +outside aerial for sending. + +While Cub was thus occupied, Mr. Perry set a hasty supper of prepared +foods on the table and "ate a bite". Then he returned to the chart and +wheel house and relieved Hal, sending the latter back to the cabin for +his meal and for further radio consultation with the other boys. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +A Baffling Situation + + +The compass worked admirably. Although the principle of the affair was +very simple, Hal must be given credit for having done his work well. + +So satisfactory did the device prove from the moment when it began to +take messages from the "island prisoner", that all on board the +Catwhisker became hopeful of success before sun-down. "V A X" kept a +stream of waves leaping from his aerial for their guidance and the motor +boat chug-chugged along like a hunting hound made more and more eager by +the increasing excitement of the hunt. + +"I wonder what's become of the fellow who tried to head us off," remarked +Hal as he left the supper table and prepared to relieve Cub at the +wireless. "You haven't heard anything from him, have you?" + +"No, not a thing all day," Cub replied. "I guess we've tired him out. Did +you get anything from him, Bud?" + +"Not a shiver of the wires," answered the latter. + +"Maybe he's given us up as hopeless easy marks," Cub suggested. + +"Why, do you think his story is true and 'Bobby Crusoe' is a fake?" +asked Hal. + +"I don't know. I wouldn't be surprised to find almost anything--or +nothing--as we get near to the end of our hunt." + +"But he must be on the island," Bud reasoned. "And he must have a +wireless set, or he couldn't have sent the messages we got. That much +is certain." + +"Not all of it," Hal objected. + +"Why?" Bud demanded. + +"Maybe he isn't on an island." + +"You mean, maybe the whole thing's a fake--eh?" + +"Maybe." + +"If the whole thing's a fake, then that other fellow who tried to head us +off must 'ave been a party to the game," Cub interposed. + +"There wouldn't be much sense in that," said Bud. + +"I agree with you," Cub continued. "The scrap between those two hams was +genuine enough." + +"But they were holding something back from us," Hal declared. + +"Both of them?" asked Bud. + +"I shouldn't be surprised." + +"Nor I, either," said Cub. + +"Then they've put one over on us," was Bud's inference. "Are you +sorry we came?" + +"I? No, sir!" Cub emphasized. "It's a dandy adventure, whatever the +result. I didn't swallow that Crusoe story whole at any time." + +"Neither did I," said Hal. + +"I thought there were some funny things about it," Bud announced +reflectively; "but I didn't know how to put them together or take +'em apart." + +"That was my fix," said Cub; "and it's my fix yet." + +"I guess we all agree that the whole affair is very strange," Hal +concluded. "We really don't believe we've been told the truth, and yet we +get in worse trouble when we try to make something else out of it." + +"I wonder what your father thinks about it, Cub," said Bud. + +"Oh, he accepts it at its face value for the sake of the adventure," the +tall youth replied. "But he's wise enough to know there may be a lot of +hocus-pocus in the business." + +For nearly two hours the motor boat wound its way at a fairly good clip +among the picturesque islands of the upper St. Lawrence, the radio +compass fixing the course as certainly as the hunter's pursuit is +directed by the nose of his hound. They had no way of telling, at any +time, how far ahead was the object of their search, but they had the +satisfaction of knowing that they were constantly approaching it. At last +an unexpected climax threw their hitherto clear prospect into confusion. +This climax grew out of a series of confounding messages from the "lost +islander". + +"I see you coming," was the first of these messages. + +"Where is he?" asked Cub and Bud in chorus. Hal was at the table and the +other two boys were listening-in. + +"I don't know," replied the operator. "One of you boys go on deck and see +what you can see." + +Cub dashed up the companionway two steps at a time. In a few moments he +returned with the announcement: + +"There's an open stretch of four hundred yards ahead of us. He's probably +on the island at the other end. I'm going back on deck and watch for +developments." + +There was a speaking tube communicating between the pilot house and the +cabin and through this Cub kept his boy friends acquainted with the +progress of the search. They reached the island in question, but not a +sign of human life was discoverable on it. The motor boat passed around +it, and meanwhile the radio-compass found the strength of its receiving +directly down stream. Cub communicated this condition to the cabin, and +Hal dot-and-dashed the following to "VAX": + +"Where are you? We can't see you." + +"I saw you," was the reply. "I climbed a tree and saw you headed right +for this group of islands." + +"No, no," objected Hal. "It must be another yacht." + +"Aren't you a white cruiser with awning mid and aft, and pilot house on +bridge deck?" asked "VAX". + +"Yes," answered Hal. + +"There's somebody calling us," remarked Bud at this point. + +"Yes, I get 'im," returned Hal. "Why, it's the mysterious guy who tried +to head us off night before last and yesterday." + +Both boys read the "mysterious guy's" first send with eager impatience. +It was as follows: + +"He's making sport of you. Mark my word, when you reach the island, +he'll be gone." + +"Keep out, you pirate," ordered Hal. + +"All right, but you'll call yourselves a bunch of fools." + +The next instant the "island prisoner" broke in thus: + +"Hurry; they are after me. I think they are the ones who marooned me +here. Their boat looks like yours, I guess." + +"See!" exclaimed Bud. "This makes things look bad. If those fellows are +robbers they're armed. We haven't a gun on board, and if we had we +wouldn't want to get in a fight over an affair that looks more like a +joke than a tragedy." + +"And yet it may be a tragedy," said Hal. + +At this moment Cub reappeared in the cabin and the situation was +explained to him. + +"It begins to look like a tragedy," he admitted; "and yet if we treat +it as a tragedy and it proves to be a joke, we'll feel like a comedy +of errors." + +"Now, you're getting highbrow, Cub," was Hal's mock objection. + +"It's common sense, isn't it?" the youthful philosopher reasoned. + +"Yes, but you forget one thing," the sly-eyed Hal rejoined: "With so much +Q R M, it's very hard to pick out common sense in an affair like this." + +"That's true," replied the other. "We've had more interference in this +trip thus far than anything else." + +"And the big question now is, how're we goin' to tune it out?" + +"I confess, I'm stumped," said Cub. "Guess we'll have to refer the +whole matter to father, but I bet he'll be up against it just as much +as we are." + +Cub turned toward the companionway with the intention of seeking an +interview with Mr. Perry in the wheel house, but Hal delayed him again. + +"Wait a minute," said the operator. "Here's our island friend again." + +Cub and Bud donned their phones once more. The message received was more +startling than any preceding. + +"They are coming ashore," was dot-and-dashed into the three boys' ears. +"I see four bad-looking men. I am going to run before they see me +and--maybe--swim. Good-bye." + +"What in the world shall we do?" exclaimed Bud. + +"I'm going to find out," declared Cub, as he dashed out of the cabin. + +Hal, meanwhile, was busy again. The mysterious amateur who had +persistently attempted to turn the supposed near-tragedy into a joke was +spitting the Catwhisker's call again. + +"Fools!" he flashed spitefully. "Goodnight." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +A Mystery and Cub's "Goat" + + +Cub hastened to his father and gave him a rapid narrative of events as +they had been received by wireless. + +"Well, that's interesting, to say the least," observed Mr. Perry with a +look of curious amusement. + +Cub waited a few moments for further comment, but as it was slow coming, +he asked impulsively: + +"What are we going to do?" + +"What do you think we ought to do?" inquired the man at the wheel, +looking sharply at his son. + +"I don't know; I'm stumped," was the boy's reply. + +"That's a frank admission. First time I've known you to admit such +absolute defeat. Do you think we'd better turn about and go back home?" + +"No," Cub replied with a revival of decision in his tone of voice. + +"Well, shall we stop, turn to the right or left, or go ahead?" + +There was a slump to indecision again. Cub looked foolish. His father was +making sport of him and he did not know how to answer intelligently. In +desperation, however, he replied: + +"Go ahead." + +"What for?" asked Mr. Perry. "Shall we dash to the rescue and face those +four men, who probably are armed with pistols?" + +"No, of course not. Anyway, we don't know where they are. They may be +twenty-five miles from here, for all we know." + +"Then we'll have to give up the search if you don't get any more messages +from him," declared the boy's father. + +"That's so," Cub admitted. "And if those men captured him and took him +away in their boat, this affair will have to remain a mystery in our +lives forever afterward." + +"You'd better go back to the cabin and see if Bud and Hal got any more +messages from him," suggested Mr. Perry. + +"That's the only hope left," said Cub as he turned to go. + +But this "last hope" proved to be vain. Bud and Hal were both still +listening-in, but with little suggestion of expectancy on their +countenances. + +"Anything more?" inquired the tall youth, unwilling to put his question +in negative form, in spite of the fact that his better judgment would +have dictated it thus. + +Both listeners shook their heads. + +"Then that's the end of our search," Cub declared with a crestfallen and +disgusted look. + +"Why?" asked Bud. + +"Answer the question yourself; it's easy," + +"I don't see why we should give up just because we've run up against an +obstacle a little worse than any we've met before," said Hal. + +"All right," Cub challenged. "Let's see what you propose to do." + +"Well," Hal responded slowly; "we could go on till we found--" + +He stopped and looked foolish. + +"Found what?" asked Cub. "The island? How would you do that without +something to guide your radio compass?" + +"That's so"; Hal admitted, with another foolish look. + +"It's too bad," Bud broke in, with tone well suited to his words. + +"I suppose the next thing for us to do is to look for a tie-up for the +night." said Hal indicating his sense of defeat by his change of subject. + +"I think father is doing that now," replied Cub. "Guess I'll go and see +what his idea is on that subject." + +By this time the Catwhisker was several miles beyond Grindstone Island +and was winding its way through a labyrinthine group to the north of +Grandview. The scenery here was so enchanting that Cub and his father +speedily agreed that the first convenient, unclaimed natural harbor that +they discovered ought to be adopted as theirs for the night. + +The season was well opened, and there were many boats on the river, so +many, indeed, that it seemed strange that any live, intelligent person +could be marooned on one of those islands, however vast their number, +without being able to call attention to his distress. However, there were +main highways in this, as in any other, semi-wilderness, and doubtless +some of the by-ways were less accessible, if not less inviting and in the +nature of things, less frequently visited. + +This company of "rescue tourists" had motored through the Lake of the +Thousand Islands before, and hence were not at a loss at any time how to +find their way. The spectacle, therefore, of a hit-and-miss, crazy-quilt +arrangement of long, round, high, low, green, bare islands, many of them +decked with a wealth of firs, pines, tamaracks, oaks, maples, bushes and +flowers, was not new to them. However, it was not long after their +decision to look for a mooring place when they found an ideal cove and +tied the Catwhisker to an overhanging bent, gnarled, contorted pine tree. + +No camp was made on the shore, as they had no intention of remaining at +this place longer than until the next break of day. All hands were pretty +tired after supper, but Hal decided he must listen-in for a while before +going to bed. So he donned a pair of phones and began to tune for an +evening program, when a call, clear and distinct, addressed to him, +suddenly held his attention. + +It was from the now mysterious "V A X", the "Island Crusoe". Hal answered +it and then received the following message: + +"Thanks awfully for your good intentions, but I didn't need any help. +Sorry to have troubled you. I did have a wager with that other fellow, +but not the kind he described. It was the first big contest in the +history of radio. I gave odds of four to one and am the winner. We both +went to the island together and each put up an independent receiving and +sending set. My part of the contest was to induce someone to come to the +rescue of me as an island prisoner; his part was to head off any such +rescue. He admitted I won after it was certain you were headed for us, +and then we both lost our nerve and ducked. Good-bye." + +Bud and Cub took the hint, from Hal's eager and almost awed manner, that +something unusual was coming in through the ether and donned phones in +time to catch the latter half of the message. This was sufficient to give +them a clear understanding of the situation. After the "good-bye" finish, +Hal made a desperate effort to hold the "Island operator" for further +conversation, but could get no reply. At last he gave it up and they +turned their attention to discussion of the situation. + +"Well, I wonder if that's the last well hear from him," said Bud as he +removed the phones from his ears, while the other two boys did likewise. + +"More of a puzzle than ever, isn't it?" Cub remarked. + +"Why, don't you believe the explanation he telegraphed to us?" Hal +inquired. + +"I do not," the tall youth replied positively. + +"Why not?" Hal persisted. "Doesn't it satisfy your lordship?" + +"Cut it out, Tee-hee," the alleged "lordship" ordered. "You make me +sore." + +"Then I'll rub on some salve." + +"If you do, you'll get your fingers burnt," Cub retorted. + +"I always thought you were a hot one. But that doesn't answer the +question before us." + +"No, because we don't know how to settle it," Cub admitted. "If we knew +what we're talkin' about, we wouldn't be batting this nonsense back and +forth. We can't hit the nail on the head, so we just fan the air. By the +way, what did that fellow say before Bud and I began to listen-in?" + +Hal reviewed the first half of the statement received by him. Then Mr. +Perry, who had just returned from ashore, where he had been testing the +security of the tie-up, entered the cabin. + +"What's the trouble, boys?" he asked, noting the studied expression of +their faces. + +"No trouble, exactly," Cub replied. "Just another mystery." + +"That's interesting," the yachtsman commented. "Tell me about it." + +"You get my goat, dad," Cub declared. + +Mr. Perry laughed. + +"Why do I get your goat, Bob?" he asked. + +"Because the more mystery there is floating around, the better +pleased you are." + +"Is that so? Well, what's the mystery now?" + +"You tell 'im, Hal," requested the youth of the "goat-got affliction". + +Hal did as requested. Quiet of several moments followed. + +"Well?" Mr. Perry interrogated. + +"Well!". repeated Cub vociferously. "Is that all you can say?" + +"I'd like to return your goat, Bob, but I don't see how I can," Mr. Perry +announced provokingly. + +"In other words, you don't see anything startling about that fellow's +last performance," Cub inferred. + +"No--o, nothing startling," his father replied slowly. + +"What do you make out of it, then?" + +"I don't know that I make anything out of it, except a lot of nonsense." + +"You think it's a joke?" + +"I wouldn't call it anything but a lot of nonsense until I know more +about it." + +"But doesn't it make you impatient to find out what it all means?" +Cub demanded. + +"No, not in the least. I got over that long ago, my son. Don't let any +such habit grip you; it'll wear your nerves out, and then you won't have +any lead-in to connect your antennae with your brains." + +"Ha, ha, ha," laughed the man's youthful audience in chorus, even Cub +appreciating the illustration. + +"When did you begin to study radio, Mr. Perry?" asked Bud. + +"Oh, I've been learning rapidly ever since I was thrown into the company +of you hams," was the reply. "But don't let me get you off the question." + +"The question--what was the question?" asked Cub, digging his fingers +into his rather lengthy locks of hair. + +"Mystery, wasn't it?" reminded Mr. Perry. + +"Yes, that's it," Bud replied. "The mystery of the Radio Robinson Crusoe +in the Lake of the Thousand Isles." + +"That sounds interesting, but it's mostly a poetic, or ecstatic, jumble +of words," said Mr. Perry. "And right there is the secret of many a +mystery. It's clothed in a maze of language. Remove the maze, and it +begins to look simple." + +"Where is the maze of language in this affair?" Cub challenged. + +"From what I've heard, the whole affair seems to have consisted +principally of language. Now, I tell you what we'll do. We'll go to bed +early and have a good sleep. In the morning, we'll shake this affair up +in a sieve and see if we can't get rid of everything but the main lumps +of the facts. Then we'll size them up and see what we can make of them. +In my opinion, we can get at the bottom of what you choose to regard as a +profound mystery." + +"If you do, pa, you'll return my goat," said Cub. + +"It's up to you, Bob," was his father's reply. "I've no desire to keep +him in my stable." + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +Returning Cub's "Goat" + + +In the morning after breakfast Mr. Perry called a conference on deck for +the purpose of discussing "the mystery and Cub's goat", as Hal put it. + +"Yes," said Bud, his sense of humor stimulated by this allusion; "all Mr. +Perry has to do to return Cub's goat is to prove there isn't any mystery +about the affair." + +"I didn't say I was going to do that," objected the adult member of +the party. + +"What--return the goat or disprove the mystery?" asked Bud. + +"Now you're getting facetious," broke in Cub. + +"Not necessarily," objected Mr. Perry. "I didn't promise, or have in +mind, to do either of those things. The fact of the matter is, a mystery +represents the state or condition of mind of the person mystified. Now, I +am not mystified over this affair at all; hence there is no mystery in +it, so far as I am concerned." + +"Then explain it to us," Bud challenged. + +"Oh, no; I didn't mean I could do that." + +"Then you must be mystified," Bud argued. + +"Suppose you have a difficult example to do at school, and finally after +working at it a long time you have to confess you can't do it--does that +mean it's a mystery and you are mystified?" + +This was a poser for the boys. They had never looked at a subject of this +kind on any such light. + +"Cub, you're the highbrow of our bunch," said Hal after some moments of +puzzled silence. + +"Oh, get away with that stuff," Cub protested, but, somehow, a faint +glimmer of satisfaction at the "compliment" shone in his countenance. + +"No, I won't, either," Hal insisted. "It's true. This thing is too much +for Bud and me. You've got to settle it for us." + +Cub "swelled up" a little with importance at this admission. He was +sitting in a camp chair with his feet resting on the taffrail, it being +a habit of his to rest his feet on something higher than his head, if +possible, whenever seated. Now, however, there seemed to be a demand +for superior head-work, so he lowered his feet, straightened up his +back, and said: + +"Well."--speaking slowly--"I don't want to get in bad with my father by +trying to prove I know more than he does, but my argument would be that +all of life is not arithmetic." + +"Good!" exclaimed Hal, eager to defend his belief in things mysterious, +and Bud signified his approval in similar manner. + +"Yes, that isn't bad at all," admitted Mr. Perry, glad to have stimulated +his son's mind into action. "But if we can't explain this affair with +mathematics, maybe we can explain it by some other element of human +education." + +"What, for instance?" asked Cub. "Not by readin', 'ritin', or +'rithmetic." + +"No, we'll exclude the three R's for the present, although all of them +may figure in our work before it is finished." + +"Well," mused Cub; "the others are history, geography, spelling--" + +"Why didn't you stop with geography?" asked his father. + +"Geography!" exclaimed Bud. "How can you use that to explain a mystery?" + +"It depends on whether geography is involved," Mr. Perry replied. "In +this case it seems to me that geography is a very important element. We +may have to know considerably more about the geography of the Thousand +Islands in order to solve this so-called mystery. Now, mind you, I don't +mean to say that we're going to get at the bottom of this affair, but I +do want to suggest that if it is to be solved by any systematic process, +the first elements to be employed in the process are a little geography +and a little arithmetic. With this in view, I would suggest that you get +busy with your wireless outfit and see what you can find out." + +The three boys gazed curiously at Cub's father and then at one another in +a puzzled manner. + +"Haven't I given you enough hint?" asked Mr. Perry. "I don't want to do +the work myself--in fact, I couldn't if I wished to, for I can't send a +wireless message; but if I could, I know exactly what I'd do." + +"We might send a broadcast to all other amateurs and find out if any of +them can help us," Hal suggested. + +"How could they help us?" asked Bud skeptically. + +"I'm sure I can't tell you," replied Mr. Perry. "But you have a dandy +field to work on. All you need is a little imagination; then begin to do +a little head-work, and before you know it you'll have a lead to work on. +And let me add something more. There are two things in this world, which, +working together, can knock a mystery into a cocked hat more successfully +than anything else in the world that I know of." + +"I bet I know what they are," Cub volunteered, eagerly. + +"Mathematics and imagination," almost shouted Hal in a wild scramble of +mind to beat Cub with the answer. + +The latter cast a wrathful glance at the saucy youth who had broken in +ahead of him. + +"Tee-hee!" laughed Bud with fitting imitation of Hal's characteristic +vocal merriment. + +As for Tee-hee, that worthy individual preserved his dignity for +the nonce. + +"Well," laughed Mr. Perry; "You've hit the nail on the head, but I +venture to say you can't explain why mathematics and imagination can put +a mystery to rout." + +Hal confessed he was unable to explain. + +"It's too much highbrow for me," he said. "And I bet it's too much +highbrow for Cub." + +The latter said nothing. Evidently he was thinking hard. He leaned back +in his camp chair and hoisted his feet upon the rail again. + +"Well, let's quit the highbrow field and get down to business," suggested +Mr. Perry. "If we're able to put this thing through along mathematical +lines, I bet you boys will have enough imagination to tell me why +mathematics and imagination can put any mystery on earth to rout." + +"I'm goin' to get busy with the spark gap," Cub announced suddenly, as he +sprang to his feet. + +"You've got a big thing ahead of you, boys," announced the owner of the +Catwhisker. "I venture to say there are some big surprises in store for +you. For instance, you're likely to find the newspapers of the United +States and Canada giving considerable space to this affair." + +"How are they going to get hold of it?" asked Bud. + +"There's where you're short of imagination, my boy. How many amateurs do +you suppose were listening in and got the messages between you and those +two radio contestants?" + +"I bet there were a hundred if there was one," declared Hal. + +"And were they interested?" + +"Were they?" exclaimed Cub. "Every last one of 'em was wild with +curiosity." + +"And did they talk about it to anybody?" + +"They didn't talk about anything else," Bud opined. + +"And didn't you suppose some of those amateurs know some newspaper +reporters?" + +"We fellows all know several reporters," said Cub, with an +appreciative grin. + +"All right," said Mr. Perry, significantly. "Now, all I have to say to +you boys is, watch the headlines whenever you get near a news stand." + +The three radio boys now repaired to the cabin, while the owner of the +yacht busied himself about matters of nautical interest to him on deck. + +"You've got to hand it to my father for one thing," Cub declared as he +seated himself near the radio table and hoisted his feet thereupon. "He +sure has some imagination." + +"And some mathematics, too, the way he subtracts mist from mystery every +time our brains get lost in a fog," Hal added, with a self-appreciative +"tee-hee." + +Cub and Bud also laughed in spite of Hal's excusable self-appreciation. + +"Do you know, I don't feel nearly so mystified as I did before that talk +with your father began," Bud announced. + +"It's the mathematics and imagination getting their work in," Cub +explained with a wink. + +"It sounds funny, and yet, I can't help feeling there's something to it," +Hal remarked. + +"Well," said Cub, bringing his feet down from the table with enough noise +to rivet a conclusion; "you may call it addition, or subtraction, or +multiplication, or division, or algebra, or geometry, or trigonometry, or +calculus--does that complete the list?--I'm going to make my imagination +leap across the spark gap; so here goes." + +He snapped the aerial switch into sending, began to "jiggle" the +key alphabetically, and the spark leaped with successive spits +across the gap. + +"Cub's got his goat back," Hal remarked with a knowing look at Bud. + +The latter grinned and nodded his concurrence. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +Mathematics or Geography? + + +But the morning proved to be a poor time for communication by radio for +two reasons. First, the atmosphere was warm, a poor condition for the +transmission of ether waves, and after all, night time is the ideal +season for such doings. Second, comparatively few amateurs were sitting +in at this time of the day, although vacation had arrived and closed the +schoolhouse doors. + +Cub kept up his efforts for an hour, with virtually no success. Although +he succeeded in communicating with half a dozen "hams", only one of them +had listened-in to any of the messages that passed between the Catwhisker +boys and the two Canadian radio contestants, and he was able to throw no +light on the "mystery". At last he gave it up for the time being, and +joined the other Catwhiskerites on deck for a period of sightseeing +enjoyment. + +They cruised about among the islands most of the day, stopping here and +there to inspect some apparently unclaimed scene of enchantment, or +visiting various places exploited for gain by private interests as +centers of entertainment and recreation. They circumnavigated Wellesly +Island, making short stops at several points of interest and at about +4:30 p.m. tied up in a quiet shelter overhung by a low-limbed tamarack +and cast their baited fishhooks into the water for a "brain-food" supper. +This was not more than half a mile from the tie-up where they passed +their first night in the Thousand Islands. The finny fellows bit greedily +and in a short time they had enough black bass and pickerel to feed a +party twice the size of theirs. + +After supper all repaired to the cabin, and the boys donned phones, while +Cub started a broadcasting campaign in search of information regarding +the two Canadian wireless contestants, who seemed to have made a trio of +monkeys out of the three radio motor-boat boys. + +"I haven't much idea what kind of questions to ask or what kind of +answers to expect," he said to his companions; "but here goes my +best guess." + +He had selected an intermission period in the atmosphere when the big +broadcasting stations were quiet, and then gave the general call and sent +out the following: + +"I want help to identify and locate an amateur who figured in mysterious +radio affair in last two days. He said his name was Raymond Flood, that +he lived in Kingston, that his call was V A X, and that he was marooned +on island in St. Lawrence River. Can anybody help me? Call A V L." + +Immediately three amateurs, two in Canada and one in New York State, +clamored for a hearing. Cub wrote down their calls and then took on the +one in Kingston first. + +"There is no such amateur in Kingston," the latter announced. "I know +them all here. V A X is held by somebody in Port Hope. I listened-in to a +lot of that stuff and called up three amateurs in Port Hope. I learned +that A V L is Alvin Baker who is attending Edwards College." + +"Why, he's my cousin!" + +This exclamation from Hal created a real sensation in the cabin of the +Catwhisker. Meanwhile Bud had been taking the message down longhand in +order to preserve a record of the investigation, so that Mr. Perry, who +read as the boys wrote, got the progress of events about as rapidly as +did the three youthful experts. It is needless to say that he was as much +astonished as were his boy companions. + +But there was no time now for a discussion of family relationship. After +a round of gasps and exclamations, they got down again to the business of +their radio investigation. + +That was about the extent of the information that the Kingston amateur +was able to communicate to them, except that he had been an interested +listener-in to much of the code conversations between the would-be +rescuers and the two very strange radio contestants. He, however, +promised to make further inquiries and to call them again if he learned +anything that might be of interest to them. + +"Well, dad, it looks as if you were right when you told us how to go +about to solve this mystery," Cub remarked as he dash-and-dotted a "G N" +(good night) to the Kingston amateur. + +"You mean problem," reminded Mr. Perry with a smile. + +"Well, maybe,--I won't dispute your word since your idea has proved so +brilliant thus far--but I can't see the mathematics yet." + +"Nor the geography?" + +"Well, yes; it took us from Kingston to Port Hope and from there to +Edwards College," Cub admitted. "I suppose there's a little +geography in that." + +"Remember this, that mathematics isn't all figures," said the operator's +father. "Keep that in mind, and maybe it'll be worth something to you +before we're through with this affair." + +"How does the discovery of my cousin come in?" Hal inquired. "Is that +geography or mathematics?" + +"Do you mean that, Hal?" asked Bud wonderingly. "You don't mean that +fellow is really your cousin?" + +"I surely do, if he's Alvin Baker. You know my folks used to live in +Canada. And don't you remember that my cousin Al visited us three years +ago with his father and mother? He wrote to me several times from Edwards +College, but I didn't know he had a wireless set, and I suppose he didn't +know I had one." + +"Well, it makes the hunt more interesting, anyway," said Cub. "But let's +not waste any more time. Here goes again." + +He called the other Canadian amateur on his list of three and learned +from him that many wireless boys had followed the course of the rescue +boat with their receiving outfits. From him Cub got the calls of four of +these interested boys. Then he called the third on his original list, but +all the information the latter was able to give was that a metropolitan +morning newspaper carried a column "story" on the front page about the +Thousand Island Crusoe and the rescue boat from Oswego. + +"You're right again, dad," said Cub, with a grim grin of subdued wonder +and eagerness. + +"I shouldn't be a bit surprised to find that the Associated Press has +chartered a boat and is following us," declared Mr. Perry. + +"Would that be mathematics or geography?" asked Bud. + +"It would be imagination," replied Mr. Perry with a keen smile. "But, +say, Cub, don't you think you've grabbed off enough glory for yourself? +Give your friends a chance to win some honors." + +"Right you are, dad," returned the boy at the key, rising and removing +the phones from his ears. "Hal, you call half this list and then let Bud +call the rest" + +It was well for the sake of a distribution of honors that this course was +taken, for a thrilling surprise was in store for them in response to the +next call. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +The Radio Diagram + + +As good fortune decreed, Hal found Number One in the new list sitting in +and listening for anything interesting in the ether. It required only a +few short sentences to acquaint this amateur with the object of the +Catwhisker's search. + +"I can tell you just how to find those fellows," he replied. "I +listened-in to the best line of detective work on that subject you ever +heard of. Sherlock Holmes isn't in it there." + +"Hooray!" shouted Bud, as he finished jotting down the last sentence. + +"There are three amateurs, one in Clayton, N.Y., one in Rockport and +one in Gananoque, Ontario, who have radio compasses and they worked +together to locate the fellow on the island," continued the informant +with the eagerness of fraternal interest and generosity. "I will give +you their calls--" + +The message was interrupted by a strong spark, which could not be +ignored. Sender Number one stopped sending, and Hal gave ear to the +new message. + +"I will save you the trouble," read the dots and dashes evidently +addressed to the operator he had just "crowded out," "I am at Rockport +and am one of the three radio compass boys referred to. I can supply the +dope right now." + +Hal threw over the aerial switch and flashed the one word "Shoot!" Then +he swung back again and all three boys listened eagerly. + +"Have you a good map of the Thousand Island region?" inquired the loop +aerial operator. + +"Yes," Hal replied. + +"Well, take these directions and then draw the line on the map. Draw one +line from Clayton, N.Y., northeast, 47-1/2 degrees from perpendicular; +another from Rockport, Ontario, southeast, 11 degrees from +perpendicular; another from Gananoque, southeast, 76 degrees from +perpendicular. The intersection of those lines will indicate the island +those messages came from." + +"He was on an island, was he?" asked Hal. + +"Sure, or on a boat," was the reply. "He could not have been on the +mainland. We were careful and could not have been more than a mile off in +our reckoning. All three of us hit it the same." + +"Where was the fellow who tried to head us off?" asked Hal. + +"When?" + +"At any time." + +"We located him at various points along the river. No doubt he was on a +boat up to the very last when the two were very near together." + +"Where was the island operator when he sent his last message? Did you get +the one in which he confessed the affair was a hoax?" + +"Yes. But he did not send that message. It was sent by the other fellow." + +"How do you know?" + +"That was plain. Did you not notice his peculiar manner of sending? All +three of us noticed that." + +"Did you pick up any more from them since then?" + +"Not a dot." + +Hal then asked the obliging amateur to indicate as nearly as possible the +location of the island from which the messages came. The latter did as +requested, and Hal marked the point on the chart of the St. Lawrence +River carried by the Catwhisker. This closed the wireless interview. Hal +promised to report back to the Rockport amateur any further developments +of interest and tapped "goodnight" with his key. + +"Well, your two main points have been proved, Mr. Perry," Bud announced +as all three boys removed the receivers from their ears. + +"What are they?" asked the man thus addressed. + +"Mathematics and geography." + +Mr. Perry smiled. + +"Yes," he said "I could hardly have hoped for so remarkable a +demonstration of my theory. You boys have solved the geography of this +problem with the aid of some very clever mathematics. But what branch of +mathematics is it?" + +"We didn't do it ourselves," Hal reminded. "It was those three amateurs +with their loop aerials." + +"Wasn't it more mechanical than mathematical?" Cub inquired meditatively. +"Those radio compasses make me think of a surveyor's instrument." + +"Oh, pshaw, my boy, don't spoil everything," pleaded the last speaker's +father. "I'm afraid you've missed the big point. Mathematics is the +biggest factor in all mechanics. Bud, I thought from the way you spoke +that you grasped the situation completely. Can't you help Bob and Hal +out? By means of what branch of mathematics was that island of our +Canadian Crusoe located?" + +"Geometry," replied Bud confidently. + +Cub snapped his finger with an impatient jerk of his long right arm. + +"Of course!" he exclaimed in disgust. "Every branch of mathematics I ever +heard of, except geometry, went buzzing through my head. I was trying to +recall something in algebra that would fit this case." + +"Oh, Cub," laughed Hal; "algebra is all x's and y's and z's over z's and +y's and x's," + +"I admit I'm a chump," Cub grinned with a shrug of self-commiseration; +"but say, let's draw those geometrical lines on our chart and see if we +get the same result those radio compass fellows got." + +Cub produced the chart and a hand-book diagram of a mariner's compass +about three inches in diameter. Fortunately the chart was made of thin, +vellum-like paper, almost transparent, so that when laid over the +diagram, the minute points of the compass, indicated with clear black +lines, could be seen through. First the dot representing the town of +Clayton was placed over the point at the center of the compass, with the +north and south line of the compass exactly coinciding with the meridian +of the town. Then Cub traced on the chart lightly with a pencil the +47-1/2-degree northeast line of the compass. Next he performed a similar +operation with the center of the diagram over Rockport and next with the +center of the diagram over Gananoque, following instructions in each of +these cases with reference to the direction lines to be drawn. The result +was that the intersection of the three lines was at approximately the +point indicated by the Rockport amateur. + +"Now we're ready to continue our search," Cub announced. + +"That's pretty good progress, I must say," Bud declared; "but here's a +new question to get us into trouble again." + +"Oh, for goodness sake, don't," pleaded Cub. "You've had your example of +what my mathematical dad can do with such foolish creatures." + +"Let him express his doubt," suggested Mr. Perry with a smile; "for, +if a man must doubt, he'd better shout than smother his ideas in a +skeptic pout." + +"Yes, get it off your chest, Bud, and then take your medicine," +advised Hal. + +"Well, suppose we find the island and nobody there, how are we going to +know it's the right one?" + +This hit the other two boys pretty hard. The possibility of such a +situation had not occurred to either of them. However, Cub preferred to +take it in lighter vein, for he replied: + +"By his footprints on the sandy beach. You mustn't have a Crusoe Island +without some footprints, you know." + +"The trouble is you're anticipating too rapidly, Bud," Mr. Perry advised. +"Columbus would never have discovered America in that frame of mind." + +"All right, I'll change the frame," said Bud. "We'll just go ahead and +see what we shall see." + +"We've got to go ahead if Hal's cousin is in peril," declared Cub. + +"Do you really believe the Crusoe boy is your cousin, Hal?" asked Bud. + +"Of course that's hard to believe, but the evidence points in that +direction," Hal replied. + +"At least if he is your cousin, we know now that he wasn't making monkeys +out of us, as that last message, supposed to come from him, made it +appear he was doing," Cub admitted. + +"Yes," put in Mr. Perry; "it looks now as if he was telling a straight +story all along." + +"If that's true, then he's probably in serious trouble right now," said +Hal. + +"Probably a prisoner in the hands of robbers, if not worse," Bud +supplemented. + +"Let's go to bed at once and get a good night's rest so that we will be +in condition to put forth our best efforts to find him and rescue him in +the morning," proposed Mr. Perry. + +This proposal met with indorsement from all, and in a short time they +were in their berths, employing their best skill to induce sleep under +condition of much mental excitement. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +The Island-Surrounded Island + + +Early next morning the Catwhisker left its mooring under the tamarack and +started on the new search for the "Canadian Crusoe's" island. + +Guided by the "mathematical chart" prepared with the directions given by +the radio-compass amateur, the crew of the motor boat had little +difficulty in finding the approximate location of the island prison; but +when arrived there, they realized that considerable work was still +before them, for they were in the midst of a veritable sea of islands, +varying in size from a few car-loads of stone and earth to several acres +in extent. + +"Well, how are we goin' to begin?" asked Hal as Cub stopped the engine in +a pond-like expanse, surrounded by a more or less regular rim of islands. + +"The first thing to do, I should say is to make the best possible +reckoning of our bearings and then try to fix the point of intersection +of those three lines indicated by the radio compasses," said Mr. Perry. + +"That's right," Cub agreed. "We mustn't forget our mathematics." + +"It seems to me that we ought to be able to pick this place on the +chart," Bud suggested. + +"Yes, especially if we keep in mind the location of some other landmarks, +or watermarks, that we passed in the last half or three-quarters of an +hour in getting here," said Hal. + +Cub produced the chart, and the study of locations and island +arrangements began. As indicated by expectations in the course of their +discussion, they were able to locate a few of the larger islands and with +these as bases for further reckoning, they at last picked out what seemed +to be the point of intersection of the three pencil lines on the chart. +This necessitated a little more cruising about, but within an hour after +their first stop they completed their reckoning. + +"There's the island that seems to come nearest to the intersection," +said Mr. Perry, pointing toward an abrupt elevation, a hundred yards +long and half as wide and covered with bushes and a few small trees; +"but it doesn't seem to answer the description very well. No other +islands near it." + +"I don't see how anybody could be marooned on that place with boats +passing back and forth near it every hour of the day," Hal commented +skeptically. + +"Neither do I," Bud agreed. + +"Well, let's do our work thoroughly anyway," Mr. Perry suggested. + +"Shall we go ashore and look that place over?" asked Hal. + +"Sure." + +"But what do you expect to find?" Cub inquired. + +"I don't expect to find anything. I had no expectation when I suggested +that you boys canvass the radio field for information to clear up what +you chose to call a mystery. I had no idea what might turn up as a result +of such canvass, but I know it was about the only thing for you to do to +start a move in the desired direction." + +"And something sure did move," Hal remarked appreciatively. + +"Well, let's run around this island and find a landing place," Cub +proposed. + +The run was made, with Cub in charge of the wheel and engine controls. +They circumnavigated the island with unsatisfactory result. + +"That settles it," Bud declared. "If San Salvador had been like that, +Columbus would have made his first landing somewhere else!" + +"Robinson Crusoe would never have found any footprints in the sand +there," Hal declared. + +"Yes, we'll give it up for the time being," Mr. Perry declared. "We won't +try to scale any perpendicular banks, fifteen or twenty feet high, at +least, not to begin with." + +"I tell you what we ought to do," Hal volunteered next. "Let's accept +this island as the center of probability." + +"What in thunder is that?" Cub demanded. + +"That's a good one on you, son," laughed the latter's father. "I thought +you were the highbrow of your bunch; but here's our subtle Tee-hee +putting a bit of clever phraseology over on you." + +"Oh, I know what he means," Cub rejoined with a panicky haste to recover +lost prestige. "I was just giving him a dig. He's forever giving me one, +whenever I come along with anything of that kind." + +"It indicates that his mind is maturing rapidly," said Mr. Perry. +"All right, Hal, we'll accept this island as a center of +probability--what next?" + +"Why, let's cruise around about half a mile in all directions and pick +out those islands that look as if they might have concealed a prisoner +from view of passing boats." + +"That's a good suggestion," said Mr. Perry. "Bob, start the boat again." + +The inspection required about an hour, at the end of which they compared +notes and found that their island inventory disclosed the following +conditions: + +Three possible places of concealment for the "Canadian Crusoe" had been +discovered. Two were small islands a short distance from each other in a +region of shallows and more or less hidden by rows of long slim islands. +No boat of greater draught than a canoe could make its way through the +intervening passages. In other words, these islands were virtually +isolated from all river traffic. The other possible place of concealment +was an island about five acres in extent, completely hemmed in by a group +of other islands, which were so overrun with rampant vegetation, +including bushes and trees, as to conceal the inner isle from any but the +most scrutinizing vision. + +"That is the place we want to explore first," announced Mr. Perry as +reference was made to this retreat in the check-up. + +"I agree with you," Bud declared. "If the prisoner left any traces behind +him at all, we're likely to find them on that island in there." + +"Is there any way we can get in?" Hal inquired. "Too bad we haven't a +small rowboat or canoe with us." + +"We'll investigate and see what we can find in the way of a water passage +into the interior," Mr. Perry announced. + +"That means a little more circumnavigating," Bud inferred. + +"Right you are," said Cub. "Me to the pilot house again." + +Accordingly he resumed his position at the wheel and the boat was put in +motion again. His father followed him and cautioned him against too much +speed in such places. + +Slowly the Catwhisker crept around the island-surrounded island until +they discovered a passage somewhat wider and apparently deeper than +others they had seen thus far in the outer rim. + +"It looks as if we might get through there," suggested Hal. He and Bud +had followed into the pilot house soon after Cub and his father repaired +to that place. + +"It does look a little that way," replied Mr. Perry. + +"We might creep in there slowly, and if we find the passage obstructed so +as to block our way, we could back out," Hal continued. + +"We have some long fender poles," Cub amended. "We could feel our way +with them and probably keep out of serious trouble." + +"All right, let's make the attempt," said Mr. Perry. "I'd very much like +to get in there with this boat." + +Cub started the engine and the Catwhisker began slowly to nose its way +through the passage. In a few minutes the little craft was alongside a +ledge of rock that projected as a sort of forehead from the top of a +perpendicular short front, and the pilot brought her to a full stop. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +The Deserted Camp + + +Both the inner island and the surrounding rim of elongated isles were +covered with a thick growth of trees and bushes, a condition that caused +Hal to exclaim: + +"I bet this is the place." + +"What makes you so certain of that?" inquired Mr. Perry, looking sharply +at the boy. + +"Because it's an ideal place for a Crusoe to be hidden so that passing +ships could not see him," Hal replied. + +"But might he not swim over to one of these surrounding islands and +attract attention from there?" + +"Yes, if there's a place to get ashore after swimming across," said Cub. + +"There's nothing but high steep banks all along here, so far as I can +see," Bud remarked. + +"That's a good line of observation," was Mr. Perry's commendation. "Now, +let's explore this island and see if your points are well taken." + +Even the landing at which the boat now rested was not particularly +attractive as such at first view because of a rather difficult climb +between it and the main level of the island. However, all the members of +the band of "Crusoe hunters" were good climbers and they soon made their +way up the stony steep to the surface land level. + +"It's funny somebody hasn't picked this place as a site for a summer +home," Mr. Perry remarked as he took a hurried view of his surroundings. + +"The trouble is it doesn't look like a very interesting place from a +view out on the river, and there are hundreds of islands to choose +from," said Cub. + +"Yes, I suppose so," his father agreed; "but in my opinion the place +deserves a second look-over. I'm going to keep it in mind as a future +prospect." + +"We'll have to put up a radio station here then," said Cub. + +"Oh, sure, we can't do without that wherever we go now-a-days," his +father replied. + +They skirted the entire shore of the island and found Bud's suggestion +regarding high, steep banks to be true in every quarter. Not another +practical landing place, except with derrick or rope ladder, was +discovered. They estimated the island to be about five acres in extent. + +"Well, we haven't found much evidence yet, indicating that this is the +place we were looking for," Cub remarked as they arrived back at the +starting point of their exploration. + +"I suppose the next thing for us to do is to explore the interior of the +island, and then perhaps we'll be in a position to form some sort of +conclusion," said Mr. Perry. + +"All right, let's finish this job as soon as possible," Bud proposed, as +he started toward a thicket of bushes and small trees a few yards from +the landing place. + +All being in harmony with this plan, there was a general move toward the +interior. The thicket, however, proved to be only about twenty feet in +depth, and beyond this was a clear area a quarter of an acre in extent. + +"Somebody's had a camp here not many days ago," Cub announced, as he +pressed forward eagerly toward the center of the open area. + +"Yes, and a tent has stood right here," said Mr. Perry, indicating +several guy-rope stakes driven in the ground. + +"Whoever it was didn't leave more than a day or two ago," Hal declared. +"See how the grass is tramped down around here?" + +"What's this?" exclaimed Bud as he ran back toward the thicket through +which they had passed and picked up a pole about ten feet long and two +inches thick. + +Mr. Perry and the other two boys rushed forward and made an eager +examination of Bud's discovery. + +"This looks interesting," said Bud significantly as he called attention +to several worn places at both ends and the middle of the pole, as if +with iron rings or wire held close around it under a strain. + +"There's another just like this one over there," cried Hal, suddenly +darting forward toward a slender pine tree about a hundred feet away and +standing a short distance out from the thicket border of the open area. + +Mr. Perry, Cub, and Bud rushed after Hal, who picked up, under the pine +tree, a pole almost the exact duplicate of the one found by Bud. After a +careful examination of them both, Mr. Perry announced: + +"It looks to me, boys, as if you had discovered the spreaders of a +demolished aerial." + +"No doubt of it," Hal agreed. "Somebody used this tree and that one over +there as masts of an aerial." + +"But trees are not supposed to be good for aerial masts," Bud objected. + +"They're all right if you have your insulation well out beyond the +branches," said Cub. + +"Yes, that's true," Bud admitted. "And look up there--see that wire? The +fellow who took down this aerial didn't do his work very well." + +All looked up in the tree and saw a wire hanging down among the branches +and appearing to be attached at the farther end near the top of the pine. + +"It was probably done in a hurry," Mr. Perry observed. + +"And that is one more point to the argument that this is the island we +were looking for," said Bud. + +"Yes, but the fellow we came to rescue is gone and left no trace where +he's gone to," added Cub. + +"Still, don't you think the search has been worth while?" the latter's +father inquired. + +"I do," put in Hal, who had been noticeably quiet and meditative since +the last very important discovery. "This makes it look as if that last +distress message we got from the island was no fake affair?" + +"Why?" asked Bud. + +"Why!" flashed Hal. "It's plain enough to me. Those four fellows, he said +were coming to attack him, probably overpowered him and swept away his +camp, radio outfit, and all." + +"And what did they do with him?" demanded Cub, eager for the last chapter +of the plot. + +Hal seemed about to make answer to this question, but something of the +nature of a "lump in his throat" checked his utterance. His friends read +his mind without difficulty. + +"Never mind, Hal," said Cub with his bravest effort at consolation; "if +the prisoner on this island was your cousin, we'll follow those enemies +of his to the end of the world and make them give him up, won't we, dad?" + +"Don't you worry too much over this affair, Hal," urged Mr. Perry by way +of response to his son's extravagant assurance. "If the person you got +those messages from was your cousin, I don't believe the fellows who were +after him had reason to do him any serious harm. But you may be sure that +we will not leave a stone unturned in an effort to solve this--this--" + +"Mystery," suggested Cub mischievously grasping at the opportunity to +give his father a good-natured dig. + +"Call it what you wish," smiled Mr. Perry. "But under any name you may be +pleased to style this problem, we are going to go after it with some more +mathematics--" + +"And geography," interposed Cub. + +"Yes, and geography, and you boys know what success we have had with +mathematics and geography in this search of ours thus far. Now, +meanwhile, I'm going to make a new suggestion which I hope you boys will +look upon with favor. Let's establish a camp of our own right here on the +spot where the Canadian Crusoe had his camp." + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +Hal's Discovery + + +The boys were delighted with the suggestion of Mr. Perry that they +establish a camp on the island and needed no urging to begin work on the +project. With true outing instinct they had come prepared for just such +an emergency as this. They had brought with them a tent large enough for +four and a complete set of camp tools, including spade, shovel, axe, +pickaxe, hatchet, saw, hammer, and nails. + +Returning to the Catwhisker, they hauled all these supplies out on deck +preparatory to taking them ashore. + +"Let's make a better ascent up this steep bank before we carry these +things up," Mr. Perry proposed. "It's quite a climb, as it is, without a +load in our arms to hamper us." + +"Only one person can work at a time to any advantage," Bud suggested. + +"That's true," replied the director of the expedition. "But we can work +in rapid shifts and finish this job quickly. I'll take the first trick +and make things fly for about fifteen minutes, and then one of you can +take my place." + +With these words, he stripped off his coat, seized the pickaxe and shovel +and stepped over the side of the boat onto the landing ledge. Then he +began a vigorous attack on the steep incline between the ledge and the +land level above. + +The task consumed a little more than an hour of speed labor, and by that +time it was after one o'clock and each of the hillside stairway builders +had worked up a very healthy appetite. So they prepared and ate luncheon +on board the yacht, and then began the work of moving tent and other +supplies to the site selected for their camp. By the time this was done +and the tent pitched, it was 3 o'clock. + +"Now, what next?" asked Cub as he sat down on a camp chair after the last +guy rope had been drawn taut and fastened securely to its peg. "It seems +to me that it's about time for another pow-wow of the Catwhiskerites." + +"I agree with you, Bob," said his father, also unfolding a camp +chair and sitting down, followed by similar action on the part of +the other two boys. + +"Well, what's the question?" asked Bud. + +"I'll offer a question if somebody'll take the chair and preside," Hal +volunteered. + +"All right," Bud agreed. "You act as chairman, Mr. Perry." + +"I am elected by Bud, there being no opposition," announced the owner of +the Catwhisker. "Now, what is the question, Hal?" + +"I'll put it this way," the latter replied: "Resolved, that mathematics +is more useful to a detective than a flashlight or a skeleton key." + +"That isn't half-bad at all," declared Cub in the midst of general +laughter and applause. "The main trouble is that we can't find anybody on +this island to take the other side of the question." + +"Very well," ruled the chair; "this question being decided in favor of +the affirmative, we will now proceed to the next." + +"Which is as follows," Bud announced; "to-wit, why have we established +our camp on this island, how long are we going to remain here, and what +shall we do while here?" + +"Now, we're getting down to business," said Cub. "But that's a composite +question. First, why are we here?" + +"We're here because we're here," Hal replied solemnly. + +"The chair is willing to accept that as a good and valid reason provided +other collateral questions are answered satisfactorily," Mr. Perry +announced. + +"Next question, how long are we going to stay here?" Cub continued. + +"I should say we will stay here until we find a reason for moving on to +the next place," said Bud. + +"Another excellent answer and fully supporting answer number one," Mr. +Perry announced. "Now, for an answer to question number three--What shall +we do while here?" + +"I'll answer that," said Cub; "well fish, cook, eat, sleep, explore and +keep our eyes peeled." + +"Peeled for what?" asked Hal. + +"More mathematical evidence." + +"Good!" exclaimed Bud. "We mustn't lose sight of the purpose of this +expedition. If our radio Crusoe is really Hal's cousin, we're bound by +the ties of friendship to stick to our task till it's finished." + +"Very well," said the chair. "Having settled the question of general +policy, let's get down to some more detail. What shall we do next?" + +"Complete our exploration of the islands," said Cub. "There's no telling +what we may find." + +"Now, you're beginning to look at things the way your father does," put +in Hal shrewdly. + +"How's that?" Cub inquired. + +"Why you're willing to look for a trail. I'm not saying you were any +worse than Bud and I were before we got started on this hunt. We just +stumbled on a trail to begin with, but when we lost it we didn't know +what to do next until your father told us it was up to us to scout around +and find it again." + +"Yes, that's right," Cub admitted. "We scouted around in the air and +found the trail that brought us here." + +"Moral: Whenever at a loss, do some broadcasting," suggested Mr. Perry. + +"Right," declared Bud; "Now the thing for us to do is some physical +broadcasting on this island." + +"In other words, we'll all go in different directions and examine every +square foot of this island," Cub inferred. + +"Exactly," assented Mr. Perry. "It ought not to take very long. There are +only about five acres here, although the place is pretty well covered +with bushes and trees." + +Without further ado they separated toward different points of the +compass. It was indeed a random exploration, well characterized as +something of a "broadcast," but the task was well executed by all. They +had no definite expectation in view, and hence they had to content +themselves with examining every physical feature as a naturalist or a +topographer, perchance, would look for the feature demands of his +specialty, and in about half an hour reconvened in front of their tent. +Hal was the only person present with a look of excitement or eagerness on +his face, and consequently the general interest of the others was +directed toward him. + +"You've found something, I know, Hal," Bud declared. "You came running +through the bushes as if you were chased by a catamount or else you had +something on your mind that threatened to burst your cranium." + +"I didn't meet a catamount," replied the boy to whom these remarks were +addressed; "but I did find something that excited me very much. I've +learned two important things." + +"What are they?" Cub demanded. + +"I've learned the name of this island and made sure of the name of the +person we came here to find." + +"You don't say!" Cub exclaimed. "I don't see how the name of this island +can mean anything to us, but we should be very glad to know who the +fellow is that we came here to find." + +"Well, the name of this island is important, or at least interesting," +Hal returned; "and I am going to give you that first. It is Friday Island +and was given that name by the Robinson Crusoe who was marooned here +because he landed here last Friday. Now, I'll tell you the other +important item. The fellow who was marooned with a wireless outfit was no +other person than my cousin as I suspected. And I have learned why he was +marooned here." + +"Why?" demanded Hal's three companions in chorus. + +"Because he was a college freshman and some of the upper classmen had it +in for him and they simply strong-armed him, captured him, and brought +him here to haze him." + +Every one of Hal's three companions gasped with astonishment. The +possibilities of such an explanation of this strange "radio-island +affair" had never occurred to one of them. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +"Robinson Crusoe's" Diary + + +"How in the world did you find that out?" + +"Who told you all o' that?" + +"Where is your cousin now?" + +These questions and others of like character were fired at Hal in rapid +succession, indicating the eagerness of all the members of his audience +for more light on the subject. As for Hal, he was moved by conflicting +emotions, which puzzled his friends considerably at first. He did not +burst forth with a storm of replies, a thing that he might well have done +consistently with boy nature. He seemed to be meditating how to begin, as +if there was so much on his mind he did not know what to say first. + +In reality, although this confusion of ideas probably had something to do +with his momentary silence following the storm of questions rained at +him, Hal was much elated with the good fortune that had thrown some +remarkable information into his possession; still, he was deeply +concerned over the possible fate of his cousin. It was the latter +concern, no doubt, that tempered and held in check his jubilation over +his discovery. + +"I think, Mr. Perry, you will admit now that there is such a thing as a +mystery," he said. + +"Why?" inquired the individual at whom this remark was directed. + +"No, I am merely very curious," replied Mr. Perry, with a smile. + +"Oh, hurry up, Hal, and tell us what this means," urged Cub impatiently. +"What's the use o' keepin' us guessing all this time. Bud and I'll +admit we're mystified." + +"Yes," grinned Mr. Perry; "you'd better hurry up and enlighten us, or +I'll have to drag the secret out of you with mathematics." + +"Addition or subtraction," asked Hal. + +"Extraction," replied "the man who couldn't be mystified" with +significant emphasis on the "ex". + +Laughter followed this quip, the levity of which caused Hal to feel more +like "loosening up". + +"Well," said the latter, producing a small leather-back notebook from one +of his pockets; "here is the secret of my information." + +"Where did you get that?" Cub demanded. + +"I found it." + +"Where--not here?" + +"Yes, on this island. It's a diary of my cousin, beginning with the time +he was left here by a bunch of college hazers." + +"Does it give any hint where he is now, Hal?" inquired Mr. Perry. + +"I don't think so," replied the boy with the notebook. "I ran my eye +through it hurriedly, but didn't have time to read it all. If you'll sit +down and listen, I'll read it to you from the beginning." + +All being agreeable to this proposition, they seated themselves on camp +chairs in front of the tent and Hal began as follows: + +"First, I'll begin by telling you where I found this book. I'll take you +back to the spot after I've finished reading. Before I found this book, I +discovered a sign, or notice, written on a piece of paper and pinned to +the trunk of a tree about four feet from the ground. On that paper was +written with lead pencil these words under date of last Friday: + +"'I Alvin Baker, a student at Edwards College, hereby name this island +Friday island, because I was marooned here alone, like Robinson Crusoe, +on Friday, June 9, 1922.'" + +"I'd like to make the acquaintance of that boy," said Mr. Perry warmly. +"He has both imagination and a sense of humor in the midst of adversity." + +"Naturally I began to look about me for some trace of the person who had +pinned the notice on the tree," Hal continued. "I was standing in an open +space about thirty feet in diameter. The tree on which this notice was +pinned is at the edge of that space. There are a few small bushes here +and there in the open, but the ground there is covered with long coarse +grass. The first thing that attracted my attention, as I began to look +about me was the fact that the grass was trampled down over a +considerable area. I examined it carefully and while doing so found this +notebook in the grass. It didn't take me long after that to reach the +conclusion that Cousin Alvin had been attacked by somebody and in the +struggle lost this notebook out of his pocket." + +"It was probably the four ugly looking men he said were coming ashore +when he sent his last distress message to us," Cub inferred. + +"I wonder why he didn't tell us the truth," Bud put in. "Why didn't he +tell us he was being hazed by some college boys?" + +"He explains that in his diary," Hal replied. "Now listen and I'll read +the first entry." + +Hal's injunction being met with quiet, eager attention, he read as +follows: + +"Friday, June 9, 1922. Last night while I was walking through the grove +of trees near the campus of Edwards College, I was attacked and +overpowered by several sophomores, who slipped a bag over my head and +carried me to a motor-boat moored a short distance away. They tried to +conceal their identity, but I recognized the voices of Jerry Kerry and +Buck Hardmaster. They kept me a helpless prisoner, with arms and legs +bound and eyes bandaged, in the cabin for several hours, during which I +could feel the boat constantly on the move. About 3 o'clock in the +morning I was carried ashore on this island. My hands were untied, and +then I could hear my captors hurrying away. I removed the bandage from my +eyes and with my pocket-knife cut the rope around my ankles. It was too +dark yet to see anything distinctly, so I had to wait for break of day +before doing anything. An hour later I discovered near the landing place +a considerable layout of supplies and equipment most of which I +recognized as my own property. Then I recalled that one of my captors had +thrust something into one of my pockets just before they took me ashore +and I put my hand into that pocket and drew out an envelope that I knew I +had not put there. In the envelope I found a typewritten note, which read +as follows: + +"'Alvin Baker, you have succeeded during all of your freshman year to +date in frustrating every attempt to haze you and have boasted that there +was no "gang" of boys at Edwards smart enough to do the trick. We are now +performing the trick in a manner that ought to convince you that such a +boast is the freshest of freshman folly. We raided your room and took +therefrom your radio sending and receiving outfit, and have added thereto +necessary equipment for erecting an aerial. This we leave with you in +order that you may summon help through the atmosphere. Meanwhile, you may +comfort yourself with the distinction of being the first college freshman +ever given a radio hazing. Now, put up your aerial and send out a message +for help. Radio is your only hope. Nobody ever stops at this island and +it is impossible for passing vessels to see any signal of distress you +may devise. If you are too proud to admit defeat and refuse to send out a +broadcast for help, you must remain here two weeks, at the end of which +time you will be captured again after dark, bound and blindfolded, and +taken back to the mainland and released. The identity of the persons +responsible for your defeat you will never be able to discover. Enough +canned food has been left with you to keep body and soul together a week. +At the end of that time, if you have failed to effect your own rescue by +radio, more canned food will be left here for you. We are leaving also a +tent, a few camp utensils, matches, and fishing tackle. You must drink +river water. Now prove yourself as big as your boast.' + +"I decided to defeat those fellows, if possible, by getting away from the +island without broadcasting an admission that I had been marooned by +sophomore hazers. So I pitched the tent and then constructed an aerial +out of material supplied by them and began to broadcast messages of +distress, saying that I had been marooned by river thieves who had stolen +my boat. But soon I found that there was someone 'in the air' who was +determined to defeat this purpose. It is now 11 p.m., and he seems to +have been successful in his attempts to make it appear that I am a faker. +Nobody has offered to come to my rescue." + +Saturday's entry in the diary opened as follows: + +"Last night, between 2 and 3 a.m., I was awakened by a slight noise +outside near the tent. I stole cautiously to the entrance and peered +out. It was a bright moonlight night and in front of the tent I saw two +men apparently examining the camp with much curiosity or evil intent, +perhaps both. Evidently they saw me watching them, for they suddenly +turned and fled. I followed them cautiously and saw them get into a +power boat and motor away. I called to them, explaining my situation and +offering to pay them if they would take me away from the island, but +they gave me no answer. Probably they were river thieves and the boat +they had was stolen." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +More Light and More Mystery + + +The next two days, Saturday and Sunday, were devoted by the island +prisoner to the sending out of further calls, for help, and these calls +were met by a campaign of ridicule, similar to that begun by his nemesis +on the first day of his imprisonment, according to the diary read by Hal +to his companions. A few listeners-in indicated a willingness to come to +his rescue, in spite of the plausible ridicule from anonymous source, but +when asked where he was imprisoned, ignorance on that subject frustrated +all good intentions along that line until his S O S reached Cub at the +latter's home on the following Monday. + +"I tried to make this mysterious enemy of mine identify himself," wrote +the diarist under Saturday date; "but he professed to have a wager posted +against me which bound us both to secrecy. This caught me in the solar +plexus of my conscience, for I was broadcasting my appeals for help under +a false identity. Two or three amateurs looked me up under the name, +call, and address that I gave and then broadcast a denunciation of me. It +begins to look as if my hazers are going to win a full revenge for the +way I laughed at them at college. This day's experience has convinced me +that I am in bad throughout the radio atmosphere. It begins to look as if +I am up against it and will have to stay here the full two weeks to which +those hazing kidnappers of mine sentenced one. I wonder if they will make +the term longer because I resorted to the method I have pursued thus far +in order to avoid admitting that I had been hazed. Well, I have this +consolation, anyway, that they have to pay for my food as long as I am +here. They had to furnish me a tent also." + +"Caught half a dozen fish today and named this place Friday island +because of the day, or night, I was brought here and my subsequent +Robinson Crusoe experiences," began the entry for Monday. + +Then followed a gleeful memorandum of his apparent success in interesting +Cub Perry with an account of his predicament, in spite of the efforts of +his radio nemesis to prove him a trifler with the truth. Tuesday's entry +closed with a notation of the announcement from Cub that the Catwhisker +was about to start on a rescue trip from Oswego to the Lake of the +Thousand Islands and would endeavor to find him by radio compass. + +"The situation is cleared up very much," Mr. Perry remarked after Hal had +finished reading the diary. "The chief problem now remaining to be solved +is, what became of your cousin?" + +"In other words, that's the mystery before us," said Bud, with a twinkle +of fun in his eyes. + +"Call it what you will," smiled Mr. Perry. "But it doesn't strike me as +in the least mysterious. Evidently he was taken away from this island by +the fellows who put him here." + +"And what did they do with him?" was the query with which Cub +supplemented his father's observation. + +"That, of course, we don't know," the latter replied. "They may have +taken him over to the Canadian shore and released him for reasons of +their own." + +"Then it's up to us to find out," Cub inferred. + +"Surely. We've had remarkable success thus far. It would be a pity for us +to meet with failure. That would spoil our story." + +"Story!" exclaimed Bud. "What story?" + +"Our story--the one we've been enacting thus far. Look back over our +experiences in the last two days and see if you can make anything but a +very fascinating yarn out of them." + +"It's a radio-college story, isn't it?" Hal suggested. + +"Yes," Mr. Perry agreed; "that would be one good way to put it." + +"If it didn't involve my cousin in a critical situation, I'd hope the +story wouldn't end yet," said Hal. "I'd like to see it run thirty or +forty chapters." + +"How many chapters do you figure it would make thus far?" asked the +director-general of the expedition with a look of keen interest. + +"Oh, about ten or fifteen," Hal replied. + +"Then, to suit your taste, it ought to be only about half finished." + +"Yes, but for my cousin's sake, I wish it were finished right now and +Alvin were safe with us or at home." + +"But wishes won't produce results nor cut off chapters," Cub +philosophised. + +"No, the denouement will work itself out along natural lines under +natural laws," Mr. Perry predicted. + +"I don't think this story is going to amount to anything as a yarn," Cub +announced with a look of superior wisdom. + +"Why not?" asked his father. + +"Because there's no villain in it. I never did like a story with a tame +ending, and the worst kind of a story on earth is one that starts with a +thrill and ends with a nap in a sunparlor." + +Laughter greeted this grotesque contrast. + +"I don't think you need expect any such up-shot in this affair," Mr. +Perry advised. + +"Do you expect a villain to show his hand?" Bud inquired. + +"It seems to me that we have some villains in the plot already." + +"Who are they?" asked Hal. + +"How about those sophomores who kidnapped your cousin and marooned +him here?" + +"Oh, they're only play villains," Cub put in disdainfully. + +"How do you know they wouldn't do something worse than haze freshmen?" + +"I don't; but until they do they're just play villains, and that doesn't +interest me." + +"I see," Mr. Perry observed; "you want people to be either very good or +very bad." + +"No," Cub returned slowly. "I wouldn't put it that way; I don't want +anybody to be bad at all; but the fact of the matter is there are lots of +good people in the world and a good many bad." + +"And to make a good story you think it is necessary to bring good people +and bad people together, eh?" + +"Well, that's what makes fireworks, isn't it?" + +"Oh, ho, I get you now," said Mr. Perry. "You're fond of +spectacular things." + +"No, I wouldn't put it that way," Cub replied; "but I don't like to see +anybody make a bluff at anything and not make good. Now, we've started +out with a glorious bluff at some very clever rascality, and it looks as +if it's going to prove to be just an ordinary hazing affair." + +"It looks to me like a very extraordinary affair, whether it was hazing +or not," returned his father. + +"And you think we'll find a villain if we investigate it to the end?" + +"Why, sure," Mr. Perry smiled. "I shouldn't be surprised if we'd find +Captain Kidd's treasure buried on this island." + +"Now you're joking," Bud put in. + +"What kind of mathematics would you use to locate that treasure?" Hal +inquired with a kind of jovial challenge. + +"Cube root," was the reply. + +"That means dig at the roots of a four-cornered tree and you'll find a +box of pieces of eight shaped like a gambler's dice," Cub inferred. + +"That's pretty good imagination, and, I think ought to put us in a frame +of mind well suited for further investigation," said Mr. Perry. "Now +let's go to the spot where Hal found that diary of his cousin and see if +we can't discover something more of significant interest." + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +The Hook-Up on Shore + + +Arrived at the open area where Hal had found his cousin's "Crusoe diary", +the three boys and Mr. Perry began a careful examination of the +surroundings for further evidence that might throw light on the strange +affair, which, for the time at least, appeared to defy the mystery +scoffer's "mathematics". + +First they scrutinized every foot of ground where the grass had been +trampled so violently, it seemed, as to suggest a physical combat. But +they were not sufficiently skilled in the arts and subtleties of the +aborigines to work out the "code" of footprints and twists, tears, and +breaks in the grass, twigs and foliage. So the result of the inspection +of an apparently recent battle ground was nil. + +"I believe we've exhausted every possibility of a clew to the mystery in +this spot," declared Cub at the end of half an hour's search. "Let's not +waste any more time here." + +"What'll we do next, then?" asked Bud. + +"Go fishin'" Cub replied. + +"I think that's a good suggestion," said Mr. Perry. "We've concentrated +our minds and efforts on this problem all day thus far, and a little +relaxation probably will do us good." + +"Where's the best place to fish?" Hal inquired. + +"I think I know," Bud replied. "I found a place where we can climb down +the bank to a dandy little beach while I was looking over my section of +the island. A little spur of land runs out at that point, so as to form a +small bay, and the water there is quiet and looks deep." + +They returned to the camp and got their fishing tackle and soon were +casting baited hooks into the bay. Bud's prediction as to the hopeful +appearance of this place, from an angler's point of view, proved well +founded. In less than an hour they caught more fish than they could eat +at supper and breakfast. + +After supper they formed a campfire circle in front of the tent--without +a fire, however, for the normal heat of the atmosphere was all that +comfort could demand--and held a further discussion of the situation and +the problem with which they were confronted. + +"I don't know, boys, but we ought to make a trip somewhere in the +Catwhisker and get police help to solve this problem," Mr. Perry remarked +with a reflection of years and judgment in his countenance. "Hal's cousin +may be in serious trouble, for all we know, and it's our duty to enlist +every agency at our command to aid him." + +"But while we're gone something might develop here that would throw light +on the mystery," said Bud. "Excuse me, Mr. Perry, for insisting on +calling it a mystery. I can't think of it as anything else." + +"Oh, goodness me!" returned the one thus addressed. "I'm afraid you boys +failed to get what I was driving at. I didn't mean there was no such +thing as mystery. That depends on your point of view. It is only people +who are easily startled or confused by unusual things who are easily +mystified. I don't mean to say that it would be impossible to mystify me +under any circumstances. For instance, if the man in the moon should +suddenly jump down on the earth and give me a brick of green cheese, and +then jump back again before I could say 'thank you' I presume I'd be +greatly mystified." + +"Your illustration won't stand a test of reason, dad," Cub objected. "To +test whether it is possible for you to be mystified you must offer a test +that is possible." + +"That's precisely why I offered that impossible illustration," Mr. Perry +smiled. "I wanted to see if any of you boys would catch the +inconsistency. You just call this affair a mystery as long as you think +it is one, but after it is cleared up, I fancy you'll have difficulty in +looking back and picturing it as a mystery in your minds. But I didn't +intend to take us off our subject. I was going to answer Bud's argument +that something of importance might develop while we were gone. Yes, that +is true, but it wouldn't be necessary for all of us to go. Two of us +might make the trip and the other two remain here." + +"That's a good idea," declared Hal. "Suppose you and Cub go and leave Bud +and me here to look after the camp and watch for developments?" + +Mr. Perry did not reply at once. Something new seemed to have slipped +into his mind and appeared to be giving him some concern. + +"On second thought," he said after a few moments of silence; "I'm +inclined to withdraw my suggestion." + +"What's up now, dad?" Cub inquired. + +"I was just recalling a portion of Hal's cousin's diary," his father +replied. "According to that, it seems that rough characters visit this +place sometimes." + +"Oh, we're not afraid," Hal protested. "Besides, you could make the trip +there and back in a few hours." + +"Well, we'll think it over and decide in the morning what we'll do," said +Mr. Perry. + +"Meanwhile, I tell you what we ought to do," Bud proposed. "It's an hour +before dark and we'd have time to bring Hal's wireless outfit up here and +hook it up before the sun sets." + +"That's a peach of an idea," declared Cub, jumping to his feet in his +eagerness. "I've got two hundred and fifty feet of extra wire and some +insulators on the boat and we can put up an aerial here without taking +down the one on the Catwhisker. Then we can shift the radio outfit back +and forth to the island and to the boat as we please." + +"Good!" exclaimed Hal. "I'm with you on that. Let's get busy and not +waste a minute of daylight." + +They worked rapidly, and as they were well supplied with material and +tools the progress made by them measured up to expectations. They +fashioned a two-wire antenna with the spreaders left on the island by +Hal's cousin; connected a lead-in to this, and then Cub and Bud climbed +the two trees and, with the aid of ropes tied around their waists and the +guiding assistance of their companions below, drew the "ether-wave +feeler" up to a lofty elevation and fastened it as nearly taut as they +could stretch and hold it. In this work they took due consideration of +the professional objection to tree entanglements in aerials so that the +insulators were well beyond the reach of the longest limbs. + +"It's a simple matter now to bring the outfit ashore and hook it up with +the aerial," said Hal. "Let's do it." + +Enthused by the novelty of their enterprise, they continued the work, +even though dusk was rapidly gathering. Several electric-battery +flash-lights were produced, so that the twilight did not seriously hinder +them. By the time the stars had become a billion glittering gems in the +sky, the hook-up had been completed with Hal's sending and receiving set +on a table that had been transported from the yacht to a convenient +position directly under the aerial and near the opening of the tent. + +"Now, let's see what's going on in the air," said Cub. "Hal, you take the +first whirl through the atmosphere." + +Hal sat down by the table and put a pair of phones to his ears. Then he +began to tune. First there came to him a discordant confusion of static +and other noises, including an admixture of "ham impudence". + +"W H Q's on," announced Hal presently, pushing over the horn switch, +whereupon the clear tones of a quartet from the Rochester station was +thrown with amplified resonance out upon the reamplifying atmosphere of a +land-and-water wilderness. + +They "sat through" the program with a degree of enjoyment never before +experienced by them under a radio spell. They could almost imagine +themselves on an enchanted isle with a band of fairy songsters teasing +harmonious echoes out of their surroundings. + +"My! I didn't suppose such weird beauty of sound could be produced under +any possible conditions," exclaimed Mr. Perry at the close of the last +number on the program. + +"Now the air will be free for all for a short time," said Hal, putting on +the phones and throwing back the horn switch, while the other boys also +donned their phones. "I'm going to see if I can get any of those fellows +we talked with on the way up here." + +"Get that amateur with the radio compass who proved Mr. Perry's +mathematical theory," suggested Bud. + +"All right I remember his call and wave length; so here goes." + +Hal tuned for several moments and sent the call of the Canadian amateur +in question. Then suddenly he gave a little gasp of surprise. Only Mr. +Perry felt a curiosity as to what it meant, for the other two boys knew +as soon did the boy at the transmitting key. Someone was calling them and +the call he gave as his own was the Canadian V A X. Then came the +following message: + +"Have you not given it up yet, boys? I did not mean to carry the joke so +far. Better go back home." + +Mr. Perry was waiting patiently for an explanation of the tense interest +manifest in the attitudes of the three boys. Presently Cub gave it to +him, thus: + +"We're on the trail again, dad. This fellow we've got is posing as Hal's +cousin and he's advising us to go back home." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +Running Down a Radio Fake + + +"You say you are V A X?" dot-and-dashed Hal to the amateur who had thus +represented himself. + +"Yes," was the reply. + +"What is your name?" + +"Alvin Baker." + +"Where do you live?" + +"At Port Hope." + +"Where are you now?" + +"On the river with some friends." + +"Have you any relatives in the United States?" + +"Yes." + +"Where do they live?" + +"In New York." + +"New York City?" + +"No--State." + +"What city?" + +"I have forgotten." + +"Is it Rochester?" + +"I do not know." + +"Is it Oswego?" + +"I am not certain." + +"Have you a cousin named Hal?" + +"Yes." + +"What is his last name?" + +"Baker." + +"Have you any relatives named Stone?" + +"I think so." + +"Is the name Hal Stone familiar to you?" + +"Never met the gentleman." + +"Then your name is not Alvin Baker?" + +"Maybe you know my name better than I do." + +"No, but I know just as well as you do that you are not Alvin Baker." + +"How do you know that?" + +"Because Alvin Baker is my cousin. I am Hal Stone, and I live in Oswego, +New York." + +"I do not believe you. You are an impostor." + +"Let me tell you a secret. I have penetrated your plot. You are an enemy +of my cousin. There was no wager between him and you, but you don't want +us to find him. You had better keep out of the atmosphere or I will have +you arrested on a charge of disorderly conduct in the air." + +No answer. + +"V A X, V A X, V A X," called Hal. + +Still no reply. + +"I cornered him, proved he was an impostor, and now he won't talk to me +any more," said Hal, addressing his companions. Then he translated the +code conversation, just completed, for the benefit of Mr. Perry. + +"Well, that disposes of him for the time being, at least," was the +latter's comment. + +"But leaves a mystery as to his identity," put in Bud with a +"mystery smile". + +"No, I don't think there's any question as to his identity." + +"Have you worked it out by mathematics, dad?" Cub inquired. + +"Yes, by sines and cosines." + +"What are sines and cosines?" asked Hal. + +"You'll find out when you go to college and study trigonometry," Mr. +Perry replied. + +"Oh, I've seen those words," Cub answered, with some of his alleged +characteristic "highbrow eagerness". "You spell sine, s-i-n-e, and +cosine, c-o-s-i-n-e." + +"Exactly," smiled Mr. Perry. "Those are terms used in higher mathematics. +But, in order that you youthful minds may not work too hard over my +trick, I'll admit that in my mind I spelled sine s-i-g-n, and cosine, +c-o-s-i-g-n." + +"No use to try to get ahead of my father," Cub declared, shaking his +head. "He could prove that water runs uphill by mathematics. He means the +signs and cosigns indicate that--. What do they indicate, dad? We got off +the question just because you wanted to carry your point with a pun." + +"I meant to say that this fellow whom you cornered and chased out of the +air is one of the fellows who hazed Hal's cousin by marooning him on this +island," Mr. Perry answered. + +"Gee! that never occurred to me," exclaimed Cub, swinging his long arm +with a snap of his finger like the crack of a whip. "I bet anything +you're right." + +"We get one step nearer every time we make a move," said Bud eagerly. + +"Yes, but the question is, how many steps do we have to take before we +settle this--this--mystery?" Cub demanded. + +"Don't look ahead so far," Mr. Perry warned. "Here's a rule in such +matters that applies to all men--and boys--of small or large capability. +Be careful never to look ahead so far you can't see the step you are in +the act of taking." + +"All right," Cub assented. "What is the next step for us to take?" + +"Find out who the fellows are that hazed Hal's cousin." Bud replied. + +"Yes, that's a good suggestion, though it'll probably require several +steps to gain that information. Still, you're not looking so far ahead, +when you propose that move, as to be unable to see your first step." + +"Why not try to get in touch with some amateur in Cousin Alvin's home +town by wireless?" Hal suggested. + +"That's the very thing I was in hope one of you would propose," Mr. Perry +replied. "You boys haven't by any means exhausted the possibilities of +your radio outfit." + +"We have no Canadian call book," said Hal, "but perhaps I can induce one +of the amateurs we've been talking with to look up the call of one or +more amateurs in Port Hope and give them to me." + +Without more ado, he swung the switch into sending position and began to +call the amateur who had given them the information that had enabled them +to locate Friday Island. Success rewarded his efforts almost immediately. +The curiosity of the Rockport amateur, however, had to be satisfied +before further service could be had from him. This Hal did with due +patience and speed, reciting their experiences since their arrival at the +island. Meanwhile the Canadian consulted his call book, and was ready +with the desired information by the time his very excusable curiosity had +been satisfied. He supplied Hal with two Port Hope calls, together with +their wave lengths. + +Then began the task of getting into communication with the Port Hope +amateurs. Hal sent the call of each of them a score or more of times, but +got no answer from either. At last, however, another Port Hope amateur, +who chanced to be listening in, answered for them. He informed Hal that +the sending outfit of one of these Port Hope boys was out of working +order and the other amateur was out of town. Then the operator on Friday +Island put the following questions to him: + +"Do you know Alvin Baker?" + +"Yes," was the reply. + +"Is he at home?" Hal continued. + +"I think not. He is at college." + +"I am his cousin, Hal Stone, from Oswego, New York. I am with some +friends on an island in the St. Lawrence River. I have learned that Alvin +is in trouble. He was hazed by some sophomores, who left him alone on an +island in the river. We found the island, but Alvin had been spirited +away and is probably being held prisoner by them. This hazing gang seems +to consist of some pretty rough characters. I want to get in touch with +my uncle, Alvin's father." + +"I will call your uncle on the telephone and tell him what you say," the +Port Hope amateur dot-and-dashed in reply. + +"Ask him to come over to your house, and tell him I will explain +everything to him through you, and then perhaps he can form a plan for +his son's rescue." + +These and subsequent proceedings, in furtherance of the plan outlined +"over the wireless" by Hal, took considerable time, but at last the +situation was made clear to Mr. Baker, who announced his intention to +start on a search for his son at once. Meanwhile Bud and Cub listened-in +eagerly and translated the code messages for Mr. Perry. + +"I tell you what we'll do," the latter said after the communication of +events had been completed for the benefit of Mr. Baker. "Tell him to take +a train to some river port, the nearest possible to this island, and +we'll meet him with the motor boat." + +Hal did as requested, and presently Mr. Baker caused this message +to be sent: + +"I will meet you at Rockport about noon to-morrow." + +"Step number one proved to be well worth while," observed Mr. Perry. "Now +let's go to bed and in the morning we'll take step number two." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +Bud's Discovery + + +Next morning the day's program was discussed at the breakfast table, the +latter being a light collapsible affair carried as an item of equipment +of the Catwhisker. Hal introduced the subject by saying: + +"Mr. Perry, don't you think two of us ought to stay here while the other +two of us make the trip to bring Uncle John over here?" + +"What's the use?" Mr. Perry returned. "Nobody's going to run away with +the island." + +"No, but we've established a camp here, pitched a tent, and brought +ashore a lot of camp material and supplies. If we all go we'll have to +strike the tent and take all these things back on the boat." + +"Well, I don't know that it makes any particular difference to me," the +owner of the yacht replied. "It'll be broad daylight and we'll be gone +only a few hours. It isn't at all likely that anything will happen during +that time." + +"I'll stay here with Hal, if he wants to stay," Bud volunteered. + +"That would be about the only way to arrange it," said Mr. Perry. "I +don't like to have any of you boys make the trip without my being along, +and as Cub knows the engine of the Catwhisker better than any other +member of our party, I think I'd better take him with me." + +"That's the best arrangement," said Hal. "And while you're gone, Bud and +I'll play Robinson Crusoe and Friday." + +"Who'll be Crusoe and who'll be Friday?" Cub inquired. + +"Oh, we won't quarrel about that," Bud replied. "Hal may have his choice +and I'll take what's left." + +"This plan will simplify matters, to say the least," Mr. Perry announced. +"About all we'll have to do when we decide to start is start." + +"You don't need to wash any dishes before you go," said Bud. +"Friday'll do that." + +"There you go already," laughed Mr. Perry. "I predict a revolution on +this island before we return." + +"No, nothing of the kind," Bud returned. "I was assuming that the lot of +Friday would fall to me. In other words, I volunteer to wash the dishes." + +"I think you'll both have to be Fridays," Cub advised. "The real Crusoe +of this place has disappeared and we don't want anybody usurping his +honors in his absence. It is our duty to find him, reinstate him here, +and then rescue him." + +"And make prisoners of the buccaneers who marooned him," suggested +Mr. Perry. + +"Yes, and make them walk the plank," added Bud. + +"We're not exactly right in calling Hal's cousin a Robinson Crusoe, are +we?" asked Cub reflectively. "You know Crusoe wasn't marooned; he was +shipwrecked on his island." + +"Yes, but Crusoe was just a hero in fiction, you know," Mr. Perry +replied. "Alexander Selkirk, the real Crusoe, was marooned on an island +in the south Pacific." + +"Too bad he didn't have a wireless outfit," said Hal. + +"Well, boys, my portion of the breakfast is stowed away, and I must +remind you that the moments are fleeting rapidly," announced the director +of the expedition presently. "Cub, are you ready to start?" + +"All ready," the latter replied, rising from his chair and turning the +"finish" of a cup of coffee down his throat. + +"I would suggest that you boys try to raise some amateur over in Rockport +and probably you can stir up some local interest there in this affair," +Mr. Perry suggested. "I'm always in favor of all the publicity that can +be had in cases of rascality, and this looks to me like something more +than a mere hazing." + +"Why, dad, I haven't heard you say anything like that before," said +Cub, with a curiously inquiring look at his father. "What do you +mean by that?" + +"I don't know," was the reply. "Maybe it's our remarks about Crusoe, +buccaneers, marooning, and walking the plank that worked on my mind and +set me to thinking about outlaws. I've just got a feeling that this +affair isn't going to be explained along any play lines." + +"But Hal's cousin didn't have any suspicion that it was anything more +than a hazing affair, according to his diary," Cub reminded. + +"I'm not so sure about that, either. You know he explained his +distress messages by saying that he had been marooned by some river +thieves or bandits." + +"But he said in his diary he didn't want to tell the truth," said Hal. + +"True, but he may have had a suspicion, nevertheless, that he felt was +not tangible enough to incorporate in his diary. However, that will all +be explained in due time, let us hope. Now, let's hurry. Good-bye, Hal, +Bud. We'll be back as soon as possible." + +A few minutes later that Catwhisker was backing out of the narrow harbor +with Cub and his father aboard and Bud and Hal on shore watching their +departure. Presently the yacht was out of sight from their hemmed-in +position, the view being obstructed by trees and tall bushes on an +intervening isle, which constituted a link of the insular chain that +surrounded Friday Island. + +"Now, let's wash the dishes," said Bud, turning back toward the camp. + +"I thought Friday was going to do that work," Hal reminded with a broad +grin on his face. + +"Wasn't it ordered that both of us should be Fridays?" Bud +demanded smartly. + +"You win," laughed Hal. "But here's a better way to handle the subject in +view of another duty before us. You know we're supposed to try to get in +touch with somebody by radio at Rockport and we haven't much time to +spare before the Catwhisker arrives there. You get busy on the job and +I'll take care of the dishes." + +"Not on your lightning switch," returned Bud emphatically. "I volunteered +to be Friday, and I'm not going to slip out of my promise through your +generosity. You get busy with the key and the phones and I'll get busy +with the dishrag." + +As no reasonable argument could be adduced to defeat this proposition, +the two boys were soon busy as prescribed by the last speaker. Bud's task +required only about fifteen minutes, and after it was finished he +rejoined his companion at the radio table. + +"Well, what luck?" he inquired. + +"Nothing doing," Hal replied. "I've managed to get the calls and waves of +two amateurs at Rockport, but neither of them answers." + +"Keep it up anyway," Bud urged, "and I'll take a tackle and go over to +the place where we took in our haul of fish yesterday, and see what I can +do this morning. Call me if you get anything interesting." + +Hal promised to do as requested and then Bud hurried away. The former +continued his efforts unsuccessfully with the sending key for nearly +half an hour, hearing no sound from his friend in the meantime. Then he +was about to take the receivers from his ears and go in search of the +fisher-boy to find out what success he had had, when the latter appeared +on the scene with a look in his face that startled the youth at the +radio table. + +"What's the matter, Bud?" Hal inquired, as he literally tore the phones +from his ears. "Has anything happened?" + +"Not exactly," the other replied. "But I've made a discovery that +may mean trouble for us. At least, we'll have to be on the lookout +from now on." + +"Why--what do you mean? Hurry up; don't keep me in suspense. What kind of +discovery have you made?" + +"I've discovered that we're not the only persons on this island," was +Bud's chilling response. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +Unwelcome Visitors + + +"Why, Bud, what do you mean?" Hal demanded, in astonishment. "Who else is +on this island?" + +"Some men. I don't know how many," Bud replied in cautious tone. "I heard +them talking about us. But keep your voice low, for this island is small +and they may hear you." + +"I was going to remark that this is a small island to contain much of a +hiding place for anybody." + +"Yes, but it's wild with bushes. And these men are bad fellows, I could +tell from the way they talked about us. They're as mad as hops 'cause +we're here. They're studying how to get rid of us without making more +trouble for themselves." + +"That's funny," Hal remarked. "Why should they care if we're here? Do +they claim they own this island?" + +"I don't know whether they do or not. I didn't hear them say anything +about that." + +"Where are they now?" + +"Over near our fishing place, if they haven't left. They were hidden in +some bushes, and I might 'ave run right into them if it hadn't been for +their voices. After I heard them I kept myself under cover and crept +closer till I could get what they said." + +"Were you listening to them all the time you were gone?" + +"Just about." + +"And didn't you find out anything more specific than what you've told +me?" + +"No, I don't think I did." + +"Why did you leave them?" + +"They seemed to 've talked the subject dry and turned to other matters, +and I thought I'd better come and tell you about it." + +"And they're there yet?" + +"So far as I know." + +"After they'd talked their subject dry, what did they find to discuss?" +asked Hal. + +"Something wet," Bud answered with a grin. + +"I get you; you mean they had some moonshine with them." + +"Or some Canadian whisky." + +"Probably that. But this makes the situation look a little better for us. +If they're just a bunch of fellows out for a liquor outing, maybe we +don't need to be much concerned about them if we keep shy of them." + +"I don't think that's all there is to it," Bud replied, with a note of +warning in his voice. "I heard one of them say we were likely to make +trouble for them and we ought to be chased away and scared so badly we'd +never come around here again, and the others seemed to agree with him." + +"That sounds like a mystery," said Hal. + +"I don't believe Mr. Perry would talk mathematics to explain such +conversation," Bud declared. + +"If he did, he'd probably make another pun about sines and cosines. But, +say, don't you think we'd better make further investigation?" + +"I don't know what we could do unless we did some more eavesdropping, +and that might cause them to get ugly if they caught us in the act," +Bud reasoned. + +"Yes," Hal agreed; "I suppose we'd better wait as quietly as we can till +Mr. Perry and Cub get back; then we can decide better what to do." + +"I don't see that there's anything for us to do but get away from here as +soon as possible," said Bud. "Mr. Perry won't want to get into trouble +with four men." + +"He'll probably have a talk with them to find out what's on their minds," +was Hal's conclusion. + +"And then get out rather than have a fight," Bud added. + +"Oh, I hope there won't be anything as bad as that." + +"Why not, if we insist on staying? If these fellows are the rough +characters we suspect them of being, that's the very sort of thing +they'd resort to, provided, of course, that they thought they could get +the best of us." + +"Here they come now!" suddenly gasped Hal, indicating, with his gaze, the +direction from which "they" were approaching. + +Bud turned quickly and saw four men emerge from the thicket some fifteen +feet to the rear of the tent. They did not look like rowdies, for they +were fairly well dressed, but there was nothing reassuring in the +countenance of any of them. One was tall and angular, another was heavy +and of medium height, another was very broad-shouldered and deep-chested +and had long arms and short legs, a sort of powerful monstrosity, he +seemed, and the fourth was fairly well proportioned, but small. There was +not a reassuring cast of countenance among them. + +"We'll just have to stand our ground and hear what they have to say," Hal +whispered: "Maybe they'll be reasonable if we don't provoke them. Be +careful and don't say anything sassy." + +"I won't," was the other's reassurance. + +The four men approached to a point a few feet from the radio table and +halted, and the tall angular man, assuming the role of spokesman, +demanded in deep tones: + +"What're you kids doin' here?" + +"We're just waiting for some of our friends to come back," Hal replied. + +"Where'd your friends go?" continued the spokesman with a leer that +caused the two boys to shrink back a step or two. + +"They just took a trip in the motor boat," replied Hal cautiously. +"They'll be back soon." + +"Oh, they will, eh," leered the man as if he penetrated the weakness of +the warning in the boy's answer. "How many are they of your friends?" + +"More than we are," replied Hal, having reference to physical size of Mr. +Perry and Cub. + +"Oh, come now, kids, tell us the truth," ordered the leering spokesman, +advancing a pace nearer. "Tell us how many went away in your boat and how +soon they'll be back." + +"There was a large man and a big boy," Bud interposed with more assurance +that he felt. + +Sly grins crept over the countenances of the four men. + +"Oh," grunted the spokesman; "you hope by that kind o' talk to scare us +away. Well, nothin' doing along that line. This here island belongs to +us, and we don't allow no trespassin." + +"Is the island for sale?" inquired Hal, who thought he saw an opening +through which he might work up the interest of the three men without +arousing their antagonism. + +"Fer sale?" repeated the spokesman of the quartet, all four of whom +seemed to exchange among themselves a round of sinister glances. "Well, I +guess nit. They ain't enough money this side o' the United States +treasury to buy this island from us." + +"We might be able to scrape up a handsome sum, if necessary," Hal +reasoned. + +A suggestion of covetous greed shone in the eyes of all four men, but the +spokesman belied his own looks by saying: + +"Nothin' doing. We want you guys to git out o' here. This is our summer +resort, eh, Spike"--turning to the long-armed, deep chested man. + +"Spike" nodded grimly and replied: + +"You bet it is, cap'n. We're gen'lemen of leisure an' don't care fer +money. All we want is our own, and they's sure to be trouble if anybody +tries to take it away from us." + +"Well, we don't want anything that doesn't belong to us," was Bud's +reassuring answer; "and if this island is yours, we surely don't want to +stay here. But we thought that maybe you'd be glad to sell, for a member +of our party said he'd like to buy all of the islands of this group if he +could find the owner." + +"Who is he?" asked the quartet's spokesman. + +"His name is Perry and he lives at Oswego, New York," Bud replied. + +"Well, you all go somewheres else to talk that matter over and then take +it up with my real estate agent. Meanwhile I don't allow no trespassers +on this ground." + +"But we can't go until our friends come back with their boat," said Hal. +"They promised to return soon." + +"Where did they go?" + +"To the Canadian Coast." + +"What fer?" + +"To get another friend who will join us." + +"Well, they'd better hurry up or they won't find you when they get back." + +"What's that you got there?" asked the man who had been addressed as +"Spike", indicating the radio table and outfit thereon. + +"That's a wireless outfit, you goof," replied the tall, angular +spokesman. + +"I tell you what we'll do," Hal announced, taking inspiration from the +attention thus called to his radio apparatus. "We'll call our friends by +wireless and have them return at once and take us away. How's that?" + +"All right," was the assenting response. "Go ahead, but be careful, no +tricks, or our revenge will be speedy, and that's no name fer it." + +With this warning the four men walked away and Hall got busy with a +diligence inspired by a sense of danger and, at the same time, a sense of +the opportunity afforded by the possibilities of the world's latest great +invention, radio. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +"S O S" from Friday Island + + +Max Handy, the Canadian youth at Rockport, who gave the crew of the +Catwhisker, by wireless, directions whereby the latter were able to +locate "mathematically" the whereabouts of the "Canadian Crusoe's Friday +Island" listened in much of the time thereafter, in the hope of being +able to keep in touch with developments to the end of this interesting +radio affair. + +And this hope was realized in a degree that could hardly have been +expected with moderation. But he was well equipped, and, being +mechanically inclined, and industrious, he was able to get a maximum of +results with his sending and receiving outfit. + +He had traced the rescue yacht all the way from Oswego to Friday Island, +and the last message he had picked up from the three young radio +Americans was the one that completed the agreement under which the yacht +was to proceed to Rockport next day and meet the father of the "missing +Crusoe". Then he attempted to get in communication with the island +operator, but Mr. Perry had just announced that the next number on the +program would be "everybody to bed at once", and there was no more +listening-in before the next morning. + +Max stayed up late that night, with phones to his ears, eager to get +another message from the island, and he was a very much disappointed +enthusiast when at last he gave up his efforts, convinced that they were +useless. He slept late next morning and consequently lost an opportunity +to respond to Hal's first call to enlist the aid of the Rockport amateurs +in the campaign to rescue the missing "Crusoe". + +But at last he caught a message from the island, and the conversation, +translated from code, that took place between him and Hal, following a +few introductory inconsequentials, was as follows: + +"I listened-in last night and heard your arrangements for today," the +Canadian dot-and-dashed. "When are you coming to Rockport?" + +"Two of us are on the way," Hal replied. "They ought to be there by +this time." + +"Is there anything I can do to help you?" + +"Yes. Can you go to the dock and ask them to hurry back? There are four +ugly acting men here on the island, who have ordered us off. They +threatened to make trouble for us if we do not go soon." + +"Don't your friends know those men are there?" + +"No; we discovered them after the boat left." + +"All right, I will run down to the dock and tell them." + +Max literally kept his promise relative to his manner of travel. He ran +all the way to the dock, half a mile. The Catwhisker was there, tied fast +with cables, but nobody was on board. + +"They've gone to the depot," he concluded; then he turned his steps +toward the railroad station. + +He ran and walked alternately, with a dozen changes of speed, and arrived +just as the train from the west was pulling in. He had no difficulty in +identifying Mr. Perry and Cub when they introduced themselves to Mr. +Baker, as the latter stepped from a coach, and a moment later he was +addressing the owner of the Catwhisker thus: + +"Is this Mr. Perry of Oswego, New York?" + +The latter turned quickly and beheld a youth about the age of his own +son, but of considerably shorter stature. + +"It is," he replied somewhat apprehensively, in view of recent stirring +events and the logical probability of more of the same sort. + +"Well, I have something important to tell you," Max continued. "I'm the +boy who gave you the radio compass information that made it possible for +you to find Friday Island." + +"Gee! I'm glad to meet you," exclaimed Cub, seizing the Canadian youth by +the hand and forgetting, in his eagerness, the announcement from the +"radio compass detective" that he had "something important" to +communicate. + +But the latter, although equally pleased to meet the young amateur from +the States, was on his guard against a delay of this sort and soon broke +through the effusion of cordiality with which Cub greeted him and +continued his communication thus: + +"I was just telegraphing with one of the boys on the island, and he told +me to tell you to hurry back. There are four men on the island who +ordered them away and threatened to make trouble for them if they didn't +get away soon." + +"What's that!" exclaimed Mr. Perry, seizing the youth by the arms. "You +say you got that kind of message from those boys?" + +"Sure I did," the boy replied; "and they want you to hurry back." + +"What kind of men are they--rough characters, bad men?" + +"That's what I understood him to mean." + +"Come on, Mr. Baker, Bob; we must hustle along. Thank you, my boy; you'll +hear from me again." + +"I'll hurry back and tell the boys I found you and you're on your way," +shouted Max as he ran down the street toward home. + +Mr. Perry led the way toward the dock at a rapid pace. Presently they +found themselves in front of a hardware store, and the owner of the +Catwhisker stopped and said: + +"I'm going in here a minute." + +He entered, and Mr. Baker and Cub followed, wondering a little as to the +motive of the boy's father. But they were not long left in doubt. + +"Have you any fire-arms on sale here?" Mr. Perry asked, addressing the +proprietor. + +"Small or large?" the latter inquired. + +"Small." + +"Right this way." + +He stepped behind a show case in which was a display of automatics and +revolvers. Mr. Perry selected one of the former and a box of cartridges +and took out his pocketbook to pay for them. + +"I believe I'll take one, too," interposed Mr. Baker, also +producing a purse. + +The storekeeper looked somewhat curiously at the two men. + +"I'm supposed to exercise care and judgment in selling these weapons," he +remarked slowly. + +"Of course, of course," returned Mr. Perry. "The situation is this: We +belong to a yacht on the river and have run up against some bad +characters. I am the owner of the yacht and have decided that we need +protection." + +"Sure, sure, that's perfectly satisfactory," said the hardware man. "You +can buy out my whole arsenal on that explanation." + +"We won't need it," Mr. Perry smiled. "These two guns are enough." + +The purchase completed, the two men and the boy left the store and +hastened on toward the municipal docks. + +Meanwhile Max arrived at his home and went direct to his radio room. +There the first thing he did was to don his phones, and the result was +instantly startling. + +He had left the instrument tuned to the Friday Island wave length and the +aerial switch in receiving position. + +"S O S, S O S, S O S," crashed into his ears in rapid, energetic, excited +succession, it seemed to his susceptible imagination. + +Quickly he threw over the switch, and called for an explanation. It came +as follows: + +"Those men have seized my friend, and now are coming after me. S O S, S +O--" + +That was all--not another dot or dash. Desperately Max appealed for +further details, but it was like calling for life in a cemetery. The +ether was dead, so far as Friday Island was concerned. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +Four Prisoners + + +When the Catwhisker arrived at Friday Island again, the place appeared to +be deserted. + +The camp was as they had left it, except that the breakfast dishes were +washed and put away. "Friday" had performed his duty, but both boys had +disappeared, and there seemed to be only one explanation of their +disappearance, namely, the premonition of danger at the hands of the four +strange men that the Rockport amateur, Max, had received from the boys on +the island. No damage had been done to the tent or any of the camp +paraphernalia, even the radio outfit being exactly as it had been when +they left it in charge of Hal and Bud a few hours previously. + +"This is getting pretty serious," Mr. Perry said, after they had made an +unsatisfactory review of the situation. "I confess I don't know what to +make of it." + +Cub felt an impulse to brand this new affair as the most puzzling mystery +that had yet confronted them, but he checked the utterance wisely enough +as entirely too facetious for the occasion. + +"We've got to get the authorities busy on this case," Mr. Perry added +after a few moments' hesitation. "We may be sure now that it's more than +a hazing affair. There must be a retreat of some bad men around here +somewhere." + +"What authorities shall we ask to help us?" Cub inquired. + +His father seemed about to answer, but he hesitated a moment or two, with +a puzzled look, first at his son, then at Mr. Baker. + +"That's so," he said presently. "Where are we--in Canada or the +United States?" + +"I think we ought to apply for help in both New York and Ontario," said +Mr. Baker, who was ordinarily a man of quiet demeanor, but now was worked +up to a state of nervous worry over the fate of his son. + +"It's going to take some time to make trips to both sides of the river +and get the authorities of New York and Ontario busy," said Mr. Perry; +"but I suppose that's the only thing to do, and every minute wasted is an +opportunity lost. So let's go right away." + +"Hold on, father," Cub interrupted; "you forget that we have a means of +calling help right here." + +"It won't do to depend on your radio messages" his father replied. "You +know the experience Mr. Baker's son had trying to get help that way." + +"Yes, but there were conditions that queered his calls," Cub replied. +"Just remember the results we got by calling our new friend, Max, at +Rockport, and what he did for us. Unless I'm badly mistaken, we can look +for more help from him." + +"Yes, you're right, Bob," Mr. Perry admitted. "But I don't like the idea +of staying here and depending on a few boys to take care of so big a +proposition. We need to arouse the whole country around here, including +all people along the shores, on the islands and those boating up and down +the river." + +"In other words, there must be some real broadcasting," Cub interpreted. + +"You bet you, and more than any amateur radio station in the country can +do. Now, we've wasted too much time already. Come on; we've got to get +started without any more delay." + +"But let me stay and see what I can do while you're gone," Cub pleaded. +"I bet I can have a police boat headed this way before you reach the +mainland." + +"No, nothing doing," his father ruled unwaveringly. "You'd disappear just +the way the other boys did. We can't afford to run any more such risks." + +"I'd be safe enough if you let me have that automatic o' yours, dad," +Cub argued, + +"No, sir-ree; I'm not going to leave you here alone to fight any gun +battle with a band of bandits." + +But the boy was still undismayed by his father's resoluteness. He had one +more proposal to offer, and he presented it thus: + +"You don't need to leave me here alone, dad. Mr. Baker may stay; you can +run the Catwhisker alone." + +Both men had started toward the landing place, expecting the boy to +follow, but they stopped suddenly and faced about on hearing this new +proposition. Mr. Baker looked almost eagerly at Mr. Perry, it seemed, +and, observing that the latter's unyielding attitude had softened +somewhat, he said: + +"That's agreeable to me if it is to you." + +"Well," returned Mr. Perry with slow deliberation, "that sounds pretty +good. If it suits you both, it suits me. I don't think you'll have to use +the guns, even if any bad actors do happen around. If you show them, +that'll probably be enough. Do you know how to handle an automatic, Bob?" + +"Sure I do," the latter replied. "All you have to do is keep the nose +pointed away from you and toward the target you want to hit. To shoot, +you just keep pulling the trigger, and when it's empty you're safe from +accident until you fill the chamber again." + +"That's a simple statement of facts," Mr. Perry smiled; "but you left out +the most important of all, and until you tell me what that is, I'm not +going to let you have it." + +"Oh, I know what it is; you've told it to me lots of times," Cub replied +with eager alertness. "You know, dad, I always remembered what you told +me, and I didn't forget that advice of yours about fire-arms. It is, +'always handle an unloaded gun as if you know it's loaded.' I promise +you, dad, I'll not forget it this time." + +"I guess it's safe to let you have it," said Mr. Perry, handing over the +weapon. "All right, now that everything's settled, I'll be gone and you +two see what you can do through the air." + +That ended the discussion, and a few minutes later the owner of the +Catwhisker was putting all the speed he could put into the power boat +toward the Canadian shore, while Cub devoted all his energy and skill to +the task of summoning as much aid as possible by wireless, Mr. Baker +standing by and waiting eagerly for results. + +And results were not long coming. The yacht was scarcely out of sight +beyond the outer rim of islands, when Cub recognized the call of Max +Handy, the Canadian amateur at Rockport. He acknowledged the call, and +then telegraphed the following: + +"I am the boy whom you met at the depot a few hours ago. When we got +back, we found the two boys we left here were gone." + +"I knew something had happened," Max replied. "After I left you I got +their S O S. Then one of them telegraphed that some men had seized his +friend and were coming after him. His last message was broken off in the +midst of a new S O S. I couldn't get him again, I called up the police +and they said they would see it got to the proper authorities for +investigation." + +Cub translated this message for the benefit of Mr. Baker and was about to +continue the telegraphic conversation when four men, armed with clubs, +and with anything but friendly demeanor, appeared on the scene. Mr. Baker +saw them first and sounded the alarm. + +"Here they come," he said in low tone, the accents of which caused Cub +to start to his feet and reach for his father's pistol which he had laid +on the radio table. "Be careful," the man continued. "Don't shoot unless +I do. Maybe we can get some information from those fellows. Put your gun +in your pocket and don't draw it unless they attack us or you see me +draw mine." + +The movement of Cub, transferring the automatic from the table to the +right pocket of his coat, did not escape the notice of the visitors, who +appeared to have come from the wooded depths of the island. But evidently +their uncertain vision left their minds in a condition of doubt as to the +significance of the act, for they continued to advance, however, with +some appearance of caution. + +"I'll go forward a few steps to meet them," said Mr. Baker, in a low +voice to Cub. "You stay back here and be careful with your gun. Don't use +it unless you see me use mine; then keep your head. I think we'll be able +to handle this situation without any violence." + +He advanced half a dozen paces, then stopped and addressed the unwelcome +visitors, who were now distant from him only about fifteen feet. + +"Halt where you are, gentlemen," he said. "We are armed, and any further +advance on your part will be met with the use of our weapons." + +The "gentlemen" stopped with due consideration for the warning, but with +scowls that indicated the poor grace of their obedience. A description of +them would mark them as the ones who are heretofore recorded as having +made an unfriendly call on Hal and Bud at the island camp earlier in the +day. The tall, angular man again was spokesman for them. + +"What're you fellers doin' on our island?" he demanded, with a deepening +of his scowl. + +"I didn't know the island belonged to you," Mr. Baker returned quietly. +"You don't happen to carry a deed to it in your pocket, do you?" + +"No, but it's ours, or it belongs to one of us," the angry spokesman +replied. "And we don't intend to allow any trespassing." + +"We have no desire to do any trespassing," was the response to this +veiled threat. "But I want to answer you with a clear statement of our +position. We are here with a purpose and we don't intend to be turned +aside from that purpose. To get down to brass tacks, three boys, one of +them my son, have disappeared under remarkable circumstances from this +island, and the indications point directly toward you men as responsible +for their disappearance. What your motive is I have no idea, but you may +be sure that it will be fathomed, and now that we have you in our power, +we don't intend to let you get away from us. We are armed with automatic +pistols that shoot like machine guns and one move either toward or from +us, contrary to order, will start them barking. Now, my instruction to +you is that you drop those clubs and come forward, one at a time, and +allow my companion to search you for weapons." + +As he spoke, Mr. Baker drew his pistol from one of his trouser pockets, +and Cub did likewise. Instantly the scowls disappeared from the faces of +the four men and were succeeded by looks suggestive of panic. + +"There's no need of any such action by you," said the leader of the +invaders with plaintive whine. "We ain't done nothin' out o' the way. We +did drive those kids off o' the island, but we didn't hurt 'em. They're +all right, and we c'n take you to 'em any time you want to go." + +"How could you drive them off of here when they had no boat to go in?" +Mr. Baker demanded. + +"Oh, we took 'em in our boat and put 'em on another island. If you'll +agree to go away from here we'll produce those boys and land you anywhere +you want to go." + +"Why is it you're so anxious to have us go?" demanded Mr. Baker. "Is +there something going on here that you don't want the authorities to know +anything about?" + +This shot seemed to throw confusion into the ranks of the visitors, +judging from the expressions of their countenances. But their spokesman +attempted to brush the inference aside as of no consequence to them by +answering: + +"That's foolish. If you think there's anything bad going on here, just +bring on the police and investigate; but we don't intend to have anybody +on these islands who hasn't any right here." + +"Very well, we'll make a test of the question of rights so there won't be +any dispute about it hereafter," said Mr. Baker. "Robert, will you call +your friend at Rockport and tell him to send some officers here for four +prisoners, but keep your weather eye on these fellows meanwhile and your +pistol beside you ready for instant use." + +Cub did as directed and soon was dot-and-dashing a thrilling message to +Max Handy, who had been waiting apprehensively all this time for an +explanation of the island operator's protracted silence. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +The Hostage + + +Meanwhile the four prisoners held a furtive conference among themselves, +and after Cub had finished his telegraphic conversation with the Canadian +amateur, the leader of the worthy quartet addressed Mr. Baker as follows: + +"Looky here, Mister man, we've decided that we're not going to stay here +any longer. You ain't got nothin' on us, and you haven't got any reason +to hold us up with those guns. We haven't done nothin' criminal, and we +don't intend to be held for crim'nals. We'll tell you where your kids are +and ev'rything'll be all right if you keep off o' our islands. We own +all these islands here, and we're not goin' to 'low no trespassin'." + +"The main trouble with your proposition is that we have no way of +knowing whether you're telling the truth," answered Mr. Baker. "Can you +tell us where the boys are and then prove that they're there before we +let you go?" + +"We c'n tell you where they are and you must take our word fer it," was +the fellow's reply. "They're over on the first island in that direction, +pointing to the southwest. You can't miss it. It's an island about the +same size as this one, all by itself. You'll find 'em there if somebody +hasn't taken 'em off." + +"No, that won't do," replied Mr. Baker. "We can't afford to let you go." + +"All right, then, let me tell you something more," said the spokesman of +the strange quartet, whose self-confidence and courage seemed to be on +the increase. "Do you see that stake there?"--indicating the visible end +of a piece of wood similar to a guy-rope stake, that had been driven into +the ground at a point midway between the two hostile conferees. + +"I see it very plainly," Mr. Baker replied. + +"Do you know what it means?" + +"I must confess my ignorance." + +"Well, I have a surprise for you. There are other stakes driven about a +hundred feet apart clear across this island east and west. That is the +dividing line between the United States and Canada. You are a Canadian, +ain't you?" + +"I am." + +"Well, that line there means that you are now in Canada and we are in +the United States. If you come over here to take us you are invading +the United States. If you shoot at us, you are shooting across the +border line at citizens of the United States. I defy you to commit any +such act." + +Mr. Baker was "almost taken off his feet" by the shrewdness of this +argument, and for several moments he was unable to make any intelligent +reply. Cub also was nonplused at the "international situation". However, +the ludicrous element of the affair did not escape them, and presently +Mr. Baker was hurling the following heated rejoinder at the spokesman of +the unfriendly four: + +"Now, see here, my fine fellow, I'm not going to listen to this nonsense +any longer. My son has been kidnapped by you scoundrels, and I am a +desperate man right now. I am in a mood at this moment to snap my fingers +at international lines, if what you say is the truth. I don't care to +dispute your word on so flimsy a subject. But here is the only compromise +I am willing to make with you. One of you has got to stay here a prisoner +until those boys are returned to us. I'm in dead earnest, believe me. If +you try to escape, I'll shoot, and if necessary, I'll shoot to kill. Now +you come right over here into Canada as quick as ever you know how, for +if you don't, in a very few seconds I'm going to begin to shoot. I'm a +good shot and my bullets will hit your feet first. Your companions may go +and as soon as they bring back those three missing boys you may go, too. +Now, come along into Canada. Hurry up, I'm going to count ten, and if +you're still over there in the United States contaminating the soil and +atmosphere of Uncle Sam with your impudence after I've stopped counting, +I'm going to begin to shoot. If I have to bring you over into Canada, +you'll come on a stretcher--see? Now I'll begin to count--one, two, +three, four, five, six, seven, eight--" + +The brave spokesman of the unwelcome visitors collapsed at Number 8 and +shuffled rapidly toward the counter with the automatic pistol. His three +companions, inspired, no doubt, with an eagerness commensurate with his +panic, broke into a run and soon disappeared in the thicket at the rear +of the camp. + +"You'd better call after your friends and remind them that it's up to +them to bring those boys back or your fate hangs by a thread," Mr. +Baker advised as he proceeded to examine the fellow's pockets for +dangerous weapons. + +But the prisoner was either too sullen or too much frightened to respond +to any suggestion requiring the exercise of wits. He merely obeyed +clear-cut orders and turned a deaf ear to all other utterances on the +part of his captors. + +"We'd better secure him so that there'll be no chance of his getting +away," Cub suggested. "There are some pieces of guy-rope in the tent. +I'll get them and we'll fix him in a condition of safety." + +Accordingly he went into the tent and a moment later reappeared with two +pieces of rope, the strands of which he unplaited and knotted together, +end to end, and then tested the knots by straining them across his knee. + +"Now, we're ready," he said, addressing the prisoner. "Turn around and +put your hands together behind you. There, that's right. I'll try not to +be too cruel, but I must tie this rope pretty tight. Holler if it +tortures you, but I must be the judge as to whether you can stand it. +There, you won't be able to do any mischief with your hands. Now, come +on; well go into the tent and take care of your lower extremities, as you +know we couldn't afford to let you walk away. We have to hold you for +ransom, you know, and the ransom is three healthy, uninjured boys." + +The prisoner obeyed without a word, and a few moments later he was tied +on the ground in the tent with legs also securely bound. + +"Now, I'll proceed to report developments to our radio friend at +Rockport," Cub announced as he and Mr. Baker came out in the open again. + +With these words he sat down at the table, donned the phone headpiece and +began to work the key. He had no difficulty in getting into communication +with the Canadian amateur again, and gave him a detailed account of what +had taken place since his last report of earlier developments. + +"My father is on the way alone in the Catwhisker, bound for Rockport," +the boy added after finishing his account of the dispute with the +professed owners of the island. "Can you get word to him of what has +happened? Tell him to come back with a few armed men as soon as +possible." + +"I will run down to the docks and meet him," returned Max. "Maybe I will +come along." + +That ended their code conversation for the time being, and Max started at +a brisk pace for the municipal docks. + +Meanwhile, Mr. Baker and Cub kept an alert watch over their prisoner and +the camp in general to guard against a surprise, for they were not +unmindful of the danger of an attempt on the part of the three departed +visitors to overthrow the advantage the man and the boy had gained +through the instrumentality of two dangerous weapons. But soon they found +time dragging heavily on their hands, so that it is no wonder that before +long they began to cast about them for something to do that would add to +the small degree of hopefulness of their situation. + +"Let's bring that fellow out here and see what we can get out of him," +Cub proposed at last. "Maybe we can induce him to tell us something," + +"All right," Mr. Baker replied; "but we must not forget to keep a sharp +lookout while we're quizzing him." + +"You go in and bring him out, and I'll keep watch to prevent a surprise," +Cub proposed. + +This being agreeable to Mr. Baker, the plan was soon put into effect. The +rope strands around the prisoner's ankles were removed and he was led out +into the open. True to his resolve not to be caught napping, Cub now kept +on the move and on the alert, describing a small circle around the +position of the two men who were seated on camp chairs about twenty feet +from the tent. + +"I've brought you out here for a sociable chat," Mr. Baker explained, +while Cub gave close attention in order that he might not lose a word. "I +hope you'll be as sociable as I shall try to be, for if you're not, I +shall have to take you back into the tent and shackle your feet again." + +The fellow did not reply, although his silence could hardly be attributed +to a spirit of sullenness. + +"Maybe you'll tell me a little more than you were willing to tell me in +the presence of your friends," Mr. Baker continued. "I'd like to know +something about the business and associations of you and your friends, so +that we may know how to treat your demands. Now, rest assured that none +of us has any desire to do any illegal trespassing, and as soon as you've +proved to us that you own this island and that we are unwelcome on these +premises, we'll get off and beg your pardon for our intrusion. But you +don't seem to have established any camp here and you don't seem to be +able to produce as much evidence of ownership as we can." + +Mr. Baker now waited a few moments for a response to his introductory +statement, but none came. The fellow seemed to be almost embarrassed +by the straightforward and well connected ideas of the man who +addressed him. + +"Well, let's see," Mr. Baker continued. "How can I present the matter so +as to start you out right? Perhaps you will be willing to tell me who you +are and what your business is. But first. I'll be fair and introduce +myself. My Name is James C. Baker. I live in Port Hope, and my business +is that of hay, grain and feed merchant. Now, will you tell me your name? +One of your friends called you Captain. Do you run a boat on the river?" + +Whether the fellow was about to reply or would continue in stubborn +silence may not be known, for the thus-far-one-sided conversation +was suddenly interrupted by a shout of eager joy from the pacing +boy sentinel. + +"Oh, there they come, there they come," the latter shouted. "There are +Hal and Bud." + +Sure enough, two boys had just emerged from the narrow belt of bushes +between the camp area and the only practical landing place of the island. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +The "Crusoe Mystery" Deepens + + +"Now, where have you boys been? Did those men take you away? Where did +they take you? Did you escape? How did you escape?" + +This rapid-fire succession of questions was hurled by Cub at Hal and Bud +as they approached the place where Mr. Baker was quizzing his prisoner +under the protection of the boy sentinel against a surprise attack from +the prisoner's friends. Some of these questions were encouraged by nods +and smiles of assent to preceding interrogatories. + +"Yes, yes, but one question at a time," Hal replied. "You're on the +right track, Cub, but that isn't the way to get our story out of us. I +see you have one of the rascals a prisoner. Keep him. He's the worst of +the bunch." + +The "rascal" winced at the characterization. + +"Who are they, anyway," asked Cub. "What are they doing here? Do they own +this island?" + +"Now, you've added three more questions," Hal remarked with a smile, for +he was much pleased at the opportunity to tease the tall and usually +super-wise youth in something of the latter's characteristic manner. "We +can't answer all your questions, Cub, but we know there's a mystery about +this fellow and his friends, and I suppose we'll have to wait for your +father's mathematics to solve it." + +"Was it those four men who made prisoners of you?" inquired Cub, who, in +his eagerness to get some definite information, resolved to ask one +question at a time and pursue his inquiry in an orderly manner. + +"Yes," Hal replied. + +"They grabbed me first while I was down at the landing," put in Bud, who +was almost as impatient to tell the story as Cub was to hear it. "I went +down there when I saw a rowboat pulling up and didn't recognize the men +in it until they came ashore. I thought they were still on the island, +for when they left us a few hours before, they didn't go toward the +landing, and we didn't see them go toward it since then. I hollered when +they grabbed me, and Hal came rushing to see what was the matter." + +"Yes, and then I ran back to the radio table and telegraphed to Max Handy +at Rockport," added Hal, taking up the narrative at this point and +indicating a disposition to volunteer details more readily. "While I was +still in the act of sending, two of the them appeared and seized me. They +took me into their rowboat with Bud at the landing and rowed to a yacht +almost a duplicate of Mr. Perry's. We were confined in the cabin until +after dark and then put ashore on an island half a mile from here. That +was the last we saw of them." + +"But how did you get away?" asked Cub. + +"We flagged a motor boat just a little while ago. There were two men and +two boys in it. We told them our story and they volunteered to bring us +back here and see if you had returned. Hello, Uncle James," addressing +Mr. Baker and seizing the latter by the hand. "I didn't recognize you at +first, though I knew you were coming." + +"Where is Alvin?" asked Mr. Baker anxiously. "Didn't you see him on the +island over there?" + +"No," Hal replied with a look and tone of surprise. "That is another +desert island--not a person there." + +"What does that mean?" demanded Mr. Baker, turning to the prisoner. "You +told us all three of the boys that you took away from here were together +on that island over there." + +"I didn't mean that," the fellow snarled, with something of a look of +confusion, however. + +"Well, what did you mean?" + +"I meant they were on two islands not far apart; the other fellow is on +the island a little further on." + +"Is that motor boat that brought you here down at the landing yet?" Mr. +Baker inquired. + +"Yes," Bud replied. + +"I wonder if we couldn't induce them to make a run over to the island +where this fellow says he left my son and bring him here." + +"I think they'd be glad to do it," Bud replied. "They seemed to be +very much interested in this affair and offered to do anything they +could to help us." + +"All right; suppose you go down there and tell them the situation. I +suppose we could wait till Mr. Perry gets back, but I can't stand any +delay that isn't absolutely necessary." + +"Why, where has your father gone, Cub?" asked Hal. + +"He started out to get police help," answered the boy addressed. "His +first call was to be at Rockport, but no doubt he'll come right back here +when he gets the message I sent for him. I telegraphed to our wireless +friend, Max Handy, and asked him to go down to the docks and tell father +what happened since he left. He's on the way now; maybe he's talking to +father this minute." + +"What was it that happened?" Bud inquired. + +Cub gave a description of the visit of the four "owners" of Friday Island +and the dispute that resulted in making a prisoner of one of them and +sending the other three away on a mission of restitution. + +"I thought when I just saw you come up from the landing that they had +released you according to agreement," he added; "but on second thought, I +decided they couldn't have had time to do that; besides, when they left +us they went in the other direction." + +"No, they didn't have anything to do with it," Hal assured his friend. + +"You'd better tell the truth about where my son is," warned Mr. Baker, +addressing the prisoner. "I won't stand any more trifling from you." + +"He's there unless somebody took him off the island, same as these boys +were taken off the island we put them on," declared "the captain" in +sullen tone and manner. + +"Well, it'll be an unhappy circumstance for you if we don't find any +evidence of their having been there," Mr. Baker remarked. + +"I think we'd better take him along with us," said Hal. "Then there'll be +no doubt about our going to the right island. Come on, Bud; let's go down +to the boat and tell Mr. Leland and Mr. White what we want to do." + +Hal and Bud were soon out of sight on their way to perform the mission +they had imposed on themselves, and a few minutes later they returned +with one of the motor-boatmen, a clean-cut athletic man of middle age, +wearing a tan Palm Beach suit. Hal introduced him as Mr. White. + +"The boys have told us all about your trouble," he said, addressing Mr. +Baker; "and we'd like to do all we can to help you out. They tell me that +your son is believed to be on an island about a mile from here, and that +this prisoner of yours knows exactly where that island is. Well take him +along with us and make him make good." + +"I'm very much obliged to you," said Mr. Baker warmly. "I've promised +this fellow that if he returns my son to me, I'll let him go, so the +instant you find my son you may turn him loose." + +"I don't believe he ought to be turned loose," declared Mr. White +energetically. "I believe he ought to be made to pay the penalty of his +crime--kidnapping. However, we'll do as you say. Come along, my fine +fellow," he added, taking the prisoner by the arm. "We'll keep those +hands of yours securely tied behind your back, so you can't get into +mischief." + +With these words, he led "the captain" toward the landing, followed by +Hal and Bud. + +Half an hour later they returned, with the prisoner, his hands still +shackled with the rope strands. They had been unable to find Mr. +Baker's son on the island where the prisoner said he and his companions +had left him. + +Meanwhile Mr. Perry had returned in the Catwhisker to Friday Island. He +was accompanied by Max Handy and a Canadian government officer. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +"Sweating" the Prisoner + + +It was now supper time, but nobody except the Canadian officer was hungry +enough to think of eating. The latter, being a disinterested party, save +as one commissioned with the duty of enforcing the law, had not diverted +to a subject of absorbing interest the energies that ordinarily create a +human appetite, hence he was normally hungry. Moreover, he was a man of +good physical proportions and organic development, and consequently +hunger with him meant a good plateful, or dissatisfaction. + +This officer, who was introduced by Mr. Perry as Mr. Harrison Buckley, +seemed to take no interest in his mission until he saw the evening meal +in course of preparation in real kitchen-like manner; then he took the +prisoner in charge and proceeded to "sweat" him in the approved style of +a police captain's private office. The prisoner squirmed about for a +time, successfully evading the inquisitorial probe aimed at him, but at +last he "confessed" as to his name and address. He said that his name was +Grant Howard and that his residence was at Gananoque, Ontario. Then a +call to supper was issued and the composite aggregation of humans +gathered around the table, which was never intended to accommodate quite +so many guests. + +However, with the exercise of due ingenuity, the supper was properly +disposed of with the unexpected discovery of more appetite than was +originally expected. Max Handy proved to be a healthy eater and the +savory smell of juicy broiled steak from the Catwhisker's refrigerator, +loosened even the nervous tension of Mr. Baker's worry over the fate of +his son, so that he was able to do fair justice to the cooking of Cub, +Hal, and Bud, who had full and joint charge of the preparation of the +gastronomic spread. + +After the meal the four boys cleared the table and washed and wiped the +dishes, while the three men joined forces in the continued "sweating" of +the prisoner. The latter adhered stubbornly to his earlier "confession" +as to what he and his three companions had done with Mr. Baker's son, but +failed to make a satisfactory statement as to his own business and the +use to which he and his friends had put "their island possession". To the +question as to the character of his business, he replied, after some +hesitation: + +"I work in a store." + +"What kind of store?" asked Mr. Buckley. + +"A grocery store." + +"What do you do there?" + +"I clerk." + +"What was the price of butter the last day you worked?" asked the +inquisitor so quickly and sharply that the victim of the thrust actually +turned pale, in spite of a strong front of bravado. But he made a brave +enough effort to get over the hurdle. + +"Twenty-nine cents." + +"A pound?" asked Mr. Buckley. + +"Yes," replied the prisoner. + +"What did you sell butter at a loss for?" the inquisitor demanded. "It +hasn't been down that low anywhere that I know of since the war." + +"I meant butterine," "corrected" the "sweat subject" hurriedly. + +"Well, you've hit it about right, by accident, of course. Now, let's see +if you know anything more about grocery business. What did you sell eggs +and potatoes for the last day you worked?" + +"I didn't sell any." + +"All you sold was butter?" + +"Yes." + +"You mean butterine, don't you?" + +"No, I sold butter and butterine and a few other things." + +"And buttermilk and cheese," the officer amended. + +No answer. + +"How much did you charge for butter?" + +"Fifty cents a pound," the prisoner replied, desperately or doggedly, it +was difficult to determine which. + +"Do you know that butter is selling now for thirty-nine or forty +cents a pound?" + +"Then it's come down." + +"No, it hasn't. It's been around forty cents a pound for several months." + +The prisoner fixed his eyes on the ground and said nothing. + +"The trouble is, you haven't done your wife's grocery shopping, or you +could tell a more plausible string of lies," Mr. Buckley commented. "Now, +let me tell you this: It's been a long time since you saw the inside of a +grocery store." + +"If you don't want to believe me, it's up to you," snarled the prisoner. + +"Now, Mr. Howard," the inquisitor continued, "your friends, I am told, +addressed you as Captain. Why was that?" + +This query stimulated a little brilliance in the fellow. + +"I run a grocery boat on the river," he said. "I don't do much clerking, +but supply groceries to several stores from a wholesale house." + +"So that is your explanation for not being very familiar with retail +prices, is it?" Mr. Buckley inferred. + +"Yes." + +"Well," the Government "sweater" went on, "your story doesn't hang +together very well." + +"You don't want it to hang together," the prisoner snapped. "You're here +to make me out a liar. You don't want the truth. You haven't got no right +to keep me here." + +"He claimed the rights of a citizen of the United States and defied us to +interfere with him," interposed Mr. Baker, who, together with Mr. Perry, +had been listening eagerly to this quizzing process. + +"How's that?" Mr. Buckley demanded. + +"Why, Mr. Perry's son and I pulled guns on him and his three +companions, when they threatened us with clubs, and this fellow pointed +out what he said was the international boundary line between them and +us and defied us to cross over and capture them. I made my bull-dog +look at him squarely in the eye and hypnotized him over onto this side +of the boundary line between the United States and Canada and made a +prisoner of him." + +"Where is that international boundary line?" Mr. Buckley asked. + +"Right here," Mr. Baker replied, rising from his camp chair and walking +about fifteen feet to the stake that the prisoner had designated as +indicating the line beyond which any hostile advance must be regarded as +a foreign invasion. + +"Who put that stake there?" he inquired, shifting his penetrating glance +from one to another of the three men before him. + +"I don't know," replied Mr. Perry and Mr. Baker almost in one breath. + +The prisoner said nothing, and Mr. Baker spoke for him as follows: + +"If this fellow would answer, I presume the only statement he could make +is that it was put there by surveyors of the Canadian and United States +Governments." + +"Humph! Funny surveyor's stake, isn't it?" grunted the Canadian officer, +"Methinks we shan't go much farther to prove this fellow a fabricator of +fairy tales. So that's the international boundary line, is it?" he asked, +eyeing the prisoner keenly. + +"I was told it was; that's all I know about it," the latter +replied sullenly. + +"Well that was a lucky reply if you intend to persist in your policy of +evasion," Mr. Buckley declared. "I was about to denounce you as an +illustrious liar. The boundary line between the United States and Canada +along here, my dear sir, doesn't cut islands in two. If you will examine +a map or chart of the Lake of the Thousand Islands, you will see that the +boundary line winds like a snake, dodging the islands through its entire +course in this part of the St. Lawrence river." + +"It was foolish of me to swallow such a yarn as that," said Mr. Baker. +"But I called his bluff good and strong. However, I'm much relieved to +discover that my credulity was imposed upon; otherwise I might be accused +of trying to drag the United States and Canada into war." + +All of his auditors, except the prisoner, smiled at this remark. The +boys, who had just finished washing the dishes, joined the inquisition +group in time to hear Mr. Buckley's last statement and Mr. Baker's +"confession of folly." + +"I think we have got as much out of this man as we may hope to get at the +present time," the officer announced a moment later. "I think I had +better take him back with me and you had better come along, Mr. Baker, +and swear out a warrant charging him with kidnapping." + +"That's exactly what I'm going to do if my son is not returned to me +to-night or early in the morning," answered the man thus addressed. "I +suppose you have no objection to remaining here over night." + +"Oh, no; it'll be easier to take care of the prisoner here over night +than to work overtime, going back at night, and jail him. But we'll have +to keep careful watch over him to-night and see that he doesn't escape." + +"Maybe we'd better lock him up in one of the staterooms of the yacht," +Mr. Perry suggested. + +"Yes, and keep a good watch over him all night," Cub put in. "We want +to make sure those three friends of his don't come back after dark and +let 'im out" + +"I'll watch with Mr. Buckley," Mr. Baker volunteered. "We're both armed +and I don't think there's any chance of our being taken by surprise." + +"We'll watch in two-hour shifts," Mr. Buckley proposed. "In that way +we'll keep fresh and on the alert, so that there'll be less danger of +being taken by surprise." + +"Very well, that's agreed upon, if it's satisfactory to Mr. Perry," the +officer announced. + +Further attempts to get information out of the prisoner, bearing on the +whereabouts of the place of concealment of Mr. Baker's son, were +unavailing, and at last they separated into two parties for the night, +Mr. Buckley and Mr. Baker taking charge of the prisoner on board the +Catwhisker and Mr. Perry and the boys distributing the sleeping quarters +among themselves in the camp. + +But before the latter retired a new radio thrill was added to their +adventures. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +"Something Happens" + + +"Something's going to happen to-night," Bud remarked to his three boy +friends when the four found themselves alone after the departure of the +prisoner under guard. Mr. Perry had accompanied the officer and Mr. Baker +to the yacht to aid them in arranging comfortable quarters for the night. + +"What makes you think that?" Cub inquired, while he and Hal and Max all +gathered around the speaker, whose remark afforded stimulus in harmony +with the weird twilight shadows around them. + +"I bet I said only what you fellows were all thinking about when I +spoke," Bud ventured by way of indirect reply. + +"I felt it in my bones," Hal declared. "Bud didn't have any more reason +to think something is going to happen to-night than all of us have. If +something surprising doesn't happen, I shall be--" + +"--surprised," finished Max, whereupon there was a chorus of laughter. + +"Whatever happens, or doesn't happen, Hal is going to be surprised," Cub +concluded facetiously. + +"I think we all will be surprised," said Bud. + +"Surprise party," shouted Hal. + +"Bum surprise party without any girls," Cub added. + +"Well, anyway, I think we ought to keep watch here to guard against the +kind of surprise party we wouldn't like," Bud declared. + +"I agree with you there, old boy," Cub put in quickly. "Whether or not +anything happens, it would be jolly to have watches and relieve one +another the way they used to do out west among the Indians and outlaws +and road agents." + +"I bet they do it yet in some places out there," said Max. + +"Course they do," Cub concurred. "You can't tell me that the day of +outlaws is gone. Think of the automobile bandits we have now-a-days. +They'll be raiding with airplanes next." + +"No, I don't believe that," Hal objected. "They couldn't use an airplane +to any advantage. We won't have any more stage coach robbers or pirates +on the high seas, and I don't think there's any chance of much of that +sort of thing in the air, but there's a good chance for some bad doings +in the air in another way." + +"How's that?" asked Max. + +"We've all had some experience with it, and you ought to know what I +mean." + +"Oh, I know," declared Bud. "You mean radio." + +"Sure," replied Hal. "There are going to be a lot of con men at work in +the air or some way in connection with radio; you see if there are not." + +"They've been at work already," said Cub. "There's been a good deal in +the papers about the games they work. But I'd like to know the truth +about the fellow who tried to keep us from coming on this trip to find +Mr. Baker's son." + +"I bet he's somethin' more than a college sophomore," said Bud. "I +wouldn't be surprised if he's connected in some way with the fellows who +kidnapped our Thousand Island Crusoe." + +"A big radio plot, eh?" Hal inferred. + +"Maybe," Bud replied. + +"What for? What could they be up to? Pretty far fetched isn't it?" + +"Yes, maybe; but, you know, it's our business to think up every possible +solution and then find out which one fits the facts." + +"All right, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, but where's the sense in figuring +this as a big radio plot unless we can see a sensible answer to it?" +Hal demanded. + +"Yes, Bud, it's pretty far fetched," ruled the dominating Cub. "You'll +have to think up an answer to your conundrum before we can consider it. +Why should a college freshman be hazed in the manner that Mr. Baker's son +was hazed just so that some men, confederates of the hazers, could kidnap +him? And then why should one of the hazers work the kind of game that +that mysterious fellow worked to checkmate us in this rescue trip of ours +if the purpose was just to kidnap Mr. Baker's son, after all? The +sophomores had to kidnap him in the first place. Why go through all that +Robinson Crusoe nonsense if the end was to be just a plain kidnapping?" + +"Then you think there's no connection between the hazing and the +kidnapping," said Bud. + +"I don't see how there can be. There's nothing showed up yet that makes +it look reasonable." + +As Cub was making his last statement Mr. Perry returned to the camp. The +speculative subject of discussion was then dropped for others more +immediately practical. + +"What did you do with the prisoner?" Hal inquired. "Did you lock 'im up +in a stateroom?" + +"That's what we did, and I don't believe there's much chance of his +getting away with an armed guard constantly near his door," Mr. +Perry replied. + +"Are his hands and feet tied?" asked Cub, + +"No, we decided that wasn't necessary. There's no way he could open +the door without making a noise; so we thought we'd let him rest +easy, and perhaps he'd be in a better humor in the morning and more +willing to talk." + +"We've been talking the matter over and we're all afraid something's +going to happen to-night," said Hal. + +"What do you think is going to happen?" asked Mr. Perry. + +"We haven't any idea." + +"Some more mystery, eh?" smiled the leader of the expedition. "Well, that +isn't at all surprising, in view of the gloominess of our surroundings. +Suppose we have a light on the subject. Cub, bring out the flash-lights." + +The latter went into the tent and soon reappeared with four dry-battery +lights. These he laid on the table in fan-like arrangement, so that they +threw a flood of light in all directions. + +"I don't feel like going to bed yet," said Cub. "Let's stay up a +while and--" + +"--listen-in," finished Hal. + +"Yes, let's do," exclaimed Bud eagerly. + +"I wasn't thinking of that," Cub admitted; "but it's better than what I +had in mind. All right, Hal, tune 'er up. This is a peach of a night for +long distance receiving." + +Hal needed no second bidding and soon he was busy with coil and detector. +Cub's "weather report" proved to be accurate, for in a few moments he +announced: + +"Here's Schenectady, New York, with some opera." + +Over went the switch and with the move came a hornful of vocal +resonance. They listened eagerly to the end of the program and then +Hal began to tune about for "something else doing" in the ether. +Presently he "straightened up" in an attitude of close attention, and +his radio friends all realized that he had found something of more +than ordinary interest. + +"Here's a Watertown newspaper looking for information about us," he +announced excitedly after a few moments of tense listening. + +The other boys sprang forward with exclamations of wonder, Bud and Cub +donning the other two phone head-pieces. + +"Shall I give him the information?" Hal asked a few moments later, +turning to Mr. Perry. + +"Whom is he talking to?" the latter inquired. + +"Some Canadian amateur who's been listening in to us a good deal of +the time." + +"I don't see why you shouldn't tell him everything, Mr. Perry. He's a +reporter, isn't he?" + +"Yes, I think he has his own private set and he's looking for a +big scoop." + +"Give it to him, by all means," Mr. Perry directed heartily. "Now the +whole country will be aroused over this affair." + +Hal managed to attract the attention of the reporter, although he did not +know his call, and pretty soon the ether was alive with a torrent of +thrills for the ambitious representative of the Fourth Estate. For half +an hour the "radio interview" continued, during which many names and +addresses were given and dramatic details were recited in the most +approved manner of exciting spontaneity. At last, however, the close came +with an announcement from the reporter that he was going to get a motor +boat, make a dash to Friday Island, and "scoop the world". Hal gave him a +careful description of the location of the island and assured the +reporter that they probably would remain there a day or two longer. + +"Now, we'd all better go to bed," Mr. Perry announced after Hal had +tapped goodnight to the Watertown scribe. + +"We ought to arrange some watches first," Bud urged, unforgetful of his +prediction that something was going to happen before morning. + +"Why do you think something more is going to happen?" inquired Hal. +"You're a good forecaster, Bud, for your prediction has been fulfilled +already. Something did happen when I caught that reporter and gave him +our story." + +"I'll say so," Cub "slanged" wisely. "We'll all have to take our hats off +to you, tee-hee." + +"Hal hasn't tee-heed for twenty-four hours in my hearing," Mr. Perry said +reprovingly. + +"That's right, Cub," declared Bud. "A little while ago I heard him laugh +right down deep from his lungs." + +"Out-door exercise is working wonders for him," Cub opined with deductive +superiority. + +"Well, anyway," said Mr. Perry; "I agree with Bud that we ought to have +some watches to-night. I believe in taking warning from Bud's prediction. +There are five of us. Who wants the first watch?" + +Nobody answered. + +"I'll take the watch beginning about 1:30 o'clock," said Bud. "If +anything happens, it'll be between then and 2:30." + +"Brave boy!" commented Cub solemnly. "I'll take next-best place, +immediately following your watch." + +"Give me the one just before Bud's," said Hal. "There may be something +doing between now and then you know. If anybody invades the camp at 1:30 +o'clock sharp, I'll call Bud and go to bed and let him repel the +invaders." + +"What a methodical bunch of boys!" Mr. Perry exclaimed. + +"Due to the mathematical training we've had under you, dad," Cub +explained. + +"I'll take the first watch, if it suits everybody," Max announced. + +"Say, father, you ought to let us have your automatic while we're on +watch," Cub suggested. + +"Nothing doing," replied the cautious adult, shaking his head vigorously. +"I'd rather run the risk of being wiped out by a band of bandits than to +run the risk of your shooting one of us if we should happen to walk in +our sleep. If any of you boys see or hear anything suspicious, just call +me, and I'll do the shooting, if any is to be done. You may arm +yourselves with some good stout clubs if you wish to, however." + +And so it was thus arranged, and while Max took his post on a camp chair +in front of the tent, the other four sought rest on their cots under the +canvas shelter. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +Bud Shoots + + +For nearly half an hour Bud had kept his eyes fixed almost continuously +on a certain spot in the dark shadow at the edge of the thicket directly +south of the tent, which faced west. His attention had been drawn to this +spot thirty or forty times after he relieved Max at 1:30 o'clock, and the +cause of his interest was a slight movement in the shadow, suggesting a +shifting of position by an animal of considerable size. + +The moon was up, but not high enough to shed much light in the open area +in which the tent was pitched. The sky was clear, and because of the deep +shadows in which this spot was merged, the heavens, to Bud's eyes, were +studded with myriads of gem-like brilliants. + +In the dim light thus afforded, the boy sentinel was able to make out +what appeared to be portions of the form of a man partly hidden in the +bushes, which grew at heights varying from three feet to six or seven +feet from the ground. Meanwhile he congratulated himself repeatedly for a +bit of very ordinary ingenuity he had resorted to in order to prepare +himself for any emergency of more or less menacing outlook. + +Soon after Mr. Perry announced his intention not to allow any of the boys +to have possession of his pistol while on guard, Bud's mind became busy +on plans for the contrivance of a substitute. In accord with Mr. Perry's +concession, each of the boys cut for himself a stout stick to be used as +a weapon of defense if necessary, and to supplement this Bud decided +first to gather a few dozen stones about the size of a hen's egg in order +that he might exercise his skill at throwing if any suspicious looking +objects should appear to his view. + +Then he happened to remember that he had a large rubber band in a small +and little-used pocket of his coat. He had put it there for no particular +reason, perhaps merely to save it. He had found it about three weeks +before and the unusual size and strength of elasticity of the band was +enough to interest any boy in the habit of seeing the adventurous +possibilities of little things. + +With the aid of his searchlight, Bud found a small forked limb in a tree +at the edge of the open area, immediately after he took charge of the +guard post, and cut it off. Then he returned to his seat near the tent +and began to whittle. The purpose of this whittling must soon have been +evident to an observer, for he held the object up frequently and viewed +it, with the calculating eye of a "dead shot," until at last he was +satisfied with the length and "grip" of the handle and the symmetry and +trim of the prongs of a fork. + +Bud was always very methodical in his youthful mechanics. Everything he +made must be "just so," hence the results were usually effective, as well +as artistic to a degree. In this instance, even the notches that he cut +around the extreme ends of the prongs were neatly grooved, in spite of +the limitation of the light in which he worked. The only regret he had +was the fact that he possessed no good strong cord, about the size of +fishline, with which to attach two separate sections of the rubber band +to the prongs at the grooves. As substitute for such cord he had provided +himself with some strands of the rope with which the hands of their +prisoner, "Captain" Howard, had been tied. After all the other details of +his mechanical labor had been completed, he took from one of his pockets +an old and inexpensive pouch-like pocketbook, emptied the contents into a +trouser pocket and proceeded to cut out a section of the pouch to a size +and shape suited to his needs. The rubber band he had cut into two equal +lengths and in the leather section from his pocketbook he cut two small +holes near opposite edges. + +The assembling of the parts of his contrivance was now speedily +accomplished, resulting in a very neat hand-catapult of a kind with +which every boy is familiar. After testing the strength of the +connections by stretching the rubbers several times to thrice their +ordinary length, Bud looked about him and soon gathered a supply of +small stones suitable for missiles. + +He was thus engaged when he first observed a movement in the shadow of +the thicket to the south of his position. Then, indeed, he congratulated +himself on the preparation he had just made to defend himself and his +companions against stealthy and hostile movements on the part of the +enemy about the camp under cover of the darkness. + +Bud was not, by nature, a blood-thirsty boy. All of these preparations +for battle were made without the slightest thought of the actual effect +of one of his missiles should it hit his mark. His industry was inspired +more by the mechanical act than by any picture of human pain that might +result. Hence, when the time came for him to make use of his weapon "with +deadly intent," he found himself in a hesitant frame of mind. He knew +that some animal, human or otherwise, was eyeing the camp with studied +interest, and it was difficult to imagine other than a human being +capable of such interest. + +Bud finally came to the conclusion that the animal half hidden in the +shadow of the bushes was a man, and that the latter's interest was +centered in "Captain" Howard, whom he doubtless believed to be held +prisoner within the four canvas walls of the tent. + +"I bet he's one of those four men that took Hal and me and marooned us on +that other island," the boy mused. "Of course, he's looking for a chance +to set our prisoner free, but he's doomed to disappointment. My +goodness!" + +Bud whirled around suddenly as a new possibility occurred to him, +stimulated by a slight noise like the cautious tread of a man's foot. The +next instant a cry of alarm almost escaped him as he saw a human form +near the entrance of the tent. + +"My goodness!" he repeated aloud, but in subdued tone, as he recognized +the approaching youth. "You'd better announce yourself, Max, before you +come onto an armed person under such circumstances as these." + +"Armed!" echoed the Canadian youth in surprise. "I thought Mr. +Perry said--" + +"Oh, yes, he said we couldn't have his automatic, but I've been busy +making a very effective substitute since I came out here--see?" + +Bud exhibited his weapon by drawing back the leather sling, thereby +stretching the elastics to their full capacity. His searchlight he had +switched off after finishing the work on his catapult, and the only +illumination in the open area came from the moon over the tree tops. + +"Did you make that out here to-night?" demanded Max in astonishment. + +"Sure--why not?" was the other's reply. + +"Well, you're some boy, all right. I'd never 'ave thought of it. If +anybody means mischief around here, he'd better look out, with a weapon +like that in your hands." + +"You bet he had," Bud returned with a sturdiness of purpose, indicating +to his Canadian friend that he meant business. "And there's at least one +prawler around here already. I'm glad you came out here, for I was just +about to come in and wake up the whole camp." + +"Is that so?" whispered Max. "Why, what's doing?" + +"I don't want to let on that I know anybody is prowling about," Bud +replied; "but if you'll watch those bushes straight south of here for a +while you'll make out the form of a man half hidden there. He moves a +little every now and then. Be careful and don't let him know you known +he's there." + +"I won't," Max replied excitedly. "Why don't you shoot at him?" + +"I don't want to do that unless I have to," Bud replied. "Besides, +I'd like to know what he's up to. Why did you come out here? Couldn't +you sleep?" + +"I didn't sleep a wink; I couldn't. My head was in a whirl all the time. +I was busy imagining just such things as this. Believe me, it was some +spooky job, out here all alone." + +"Yes, that's true," Bud agreed. "I'm glad enough to have your company. By +the way, you haven't explained how you happened to come here with Mr. +Perry. We're mighty glad to have you here, but I was wondering how your +folks happened to let you come." + +"Mr. Buckley is my uncle," Max replied. "I called him up and told him +what was going on out here, and he asked me to come along." + +"Oh, that's it," Bud returned. "I was wondering if you Canadian boys are +way ahead of us Yankee boys when it comes to doing as you please. My +father wouldn't let me come on this trip if Mr. Perry hadn't come along." + +"I guess we're not much different from you Yankees," Max replied. "But, +talkin' about doing as you please, it seems to me that you went pretty +far when you made that slingshot after Mr. Perry said you mustn't have +a pistol." + +"Oh, that's nothing like a pistol," Bud replied. "You couldn't kill +anybody with it." + +"I don't know about that," Max answered with a shake of his head. "I +wouldn't like to be in front of it when you shot. I bet you could knock a +fellow silly with it." + +"Maybe I could. Well, anyway, a slingshot's a long way from being a +pistol. Have you made that fellow out yet?" + +"Yes, you bet I have," answered Max. "I've seen 'im move several times." + +"Let's sit down and pretend not to suspect that anybody's watching us," +Bud proposed. "Then maybe he'll be a little bolder." + +"All right, but we'll have to keep a close watch out of the corner of +our eyes." + +"Sure. Come on. Here are a couple of chairs." + +"Let's sit down facing each other, so that nobody can creep onto us +unawares," suggested Max. + +"That's a good idea," said Bud. + +They seated themselves, face to face and within "whispering distance" of +each other and continued their conversation in low tones, but at the same +time keeping a sharp lookout for developments. + +"This experience has proved one thing," Bud remarked in the course of +their continued discussion, "and that is that all our watches ought to be +in two's." + +"Yes, a single watcher gets pretty lonesome, and, besides, it's too easy +for him to be taken by surprise. Now, there's a sample of what I say. +Don't look yet; he'll know we see him. He's moved, farther to the east, +and now he's creeping up behind the tent." + +"We must make sure that he's alone, or else rouse the rest of the camp," +said Bud excitedly. "Keep watch in every direction. I'll turn slowly and +get a look at him, and then turn back and pretend not to see him." + +This program was observed carefully for a minute or two. Meanwhile the +spy crept closer and closer, crawling like a serpentine quadruped and +making fairly good progress withal. At last, however, Bud decided that it +was time for him to do something to put a stop to this proceeding. + +Without giving his companion any warning as to his intention, he lifted +the catapult eye-line high, pulled back the sling, in which all this time +he had held a stone nearly half the size of a hen's egg, and let it fly. + +Thud! + +That the missile hit the mark hard was indicated, first, by the sound of +the blow, itself, and, second, by the muffled cry of agony that followed. +The next instant the victim, who seemed to be struggling to retain his +"quadruped balance," rolled over with a moan of impotent agony. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +The Sling Shot Victim + + +"What's the matter, boys?" + +Mr. Perry appeared at the entrance of the tent with this question on his +lips. The boys turned quickly, while Cub's father advanced nearer to +pursue his inquiry. + +"I shot somebody," Bud replied. + +"Shot somebody!" Mr. Perry exclaimed. "What with?" + +"This," the boy answered, exhibiting his slingshot. "Some fellow was +prowling around here and I thought it was time to stop him. He was +standing in those bushes over there for a long time, and I suppose he +thought he was fully concealed, but I saw him. Then he started to crawl +up close to the tent, and I let him have a good solid, heavy stone. It +went like a bullet--these rubbers are awful strong, and I pulled them +way back." + +"He isn't killed; he's crawling away," Max interrupted at this point. + +"We mustn't allow that," declared Bud. "We must find out who he is and +what he was up to." + +Just then Hal and Cub appeared on the scene, and a few words sufficed to +explain to them what had occurred. All of the campers on retiring had +kept on their day clothes, in order that they might be ready for action +in case of trouble in the night. + +"Come on, we must stop him," Cub announced. + +This seemed to be the opinion of all, including Mr. Perry, and a general +move was made in the direction of the slowly retreating injured spy. They +soon overtook him and threw a flood of illumination about him with their +search-lights, which they had picked up in the dark almost as +instinctively as a grandmother picks up her glasses in the morning. + +"Why, he's a boy!" + +Bud was the only one present who gave utterance to this discovery aloud, +but the "exclamation" flashed mentally in the head of every other +youthful investigator in the group. As Mr. Perry was not easily +mystified, we must take it for granted that he was not easily astonished, +so that probably he did not feel like giving vent to anything of the +nature of an exclamation. + +"Well," said the latter quietly; "we must take this youngster back to the +camp and give him some hospital treatment. Can you walk?" he added, +addressing the victim of Bud's slingshot. + +"You don't think I'd be down here if I could, do you?" moaned the fellow +sarcastically. "But just wait till I get over this and I'll fix the +fellow that hit me." + +"Let's not waste any time with him here," urged Mr. Perry. "Some of you +boys pick him up carefully, so as not to hurt him, and carry him into the +tent. We'll give him a quizzing there." + +All the young members of the Catwhisker party had had first aid +instruction, so that they knew how to lift the injured boy and carry him +with a minimum of pain to the sufferer. A minute later the victim was +lying on one of the cots in the tent, with his captors gathered around +him, undoubtedly more concerned about the mystery of his presence than in +the extent of his injuries. + +"No, boys, we mustn't try to get his story from him until we take care of +his wound and see to it that he is resting easy"; Mr. Perry interposed. + +Accordingly the wound was examined and found to consist of a very bad +bruise on the side of the right hip. Bud's missile had struck the +intruder at a point where there was little flesh, right on a protruding +ridge of the hip bone, and it was easy to see that the blow must have +been very painful. + +"I don't think it's very serious," Mr. Perry remarked after examining the +wound; "but I doubt if this boy will want to be running around very much +for several days. About all we can do is to apply some liniment to the +wound and encourage it, by careful treatment, to heal as rapidly as +possible." + +A bottle of liniment was accordingly produced and an application +administered by Mr. Perry. This seemed to ease the prisoner-patient +somewhat, although he made no effort to stand up, or even to sit up. + +"He may have a bone fracture," Mr. Perry remarked, after he had finished +his first-aid ministration, "It's a pretty bad wound, after all. We'll +have to take him to the nearest physician in the morning if he doesn't +show decided improvement by that time. I didn't dare rub the liniment in +because the slightest touch was so painful." + +"The skin isn't broken," Bud observed, with a tone of real concern, for, +in spite of the fact that the fellow was there on no friendly mission, +the catapult "dead shot" now felt no exultation over his deed. + +"No, or I could not have used the liniment," Mr. Perry replied. "His +clothing protected him against a broken wound. By the way," he continued, +turning to the victim, who lay on one of the camp cots that formed a part +of the regular equipment of the Catwhisker; "who are you and what were +you doing here?" + +"Never you mind who I am or what I was doing here," snapped the youth, +who appeared to be a few years older than the boy Catwhiskerites and +their Canadian friend, Max. "You wait till my father gets after you. +He'll clean you all up." + +"And who may your father be?" inquired Mr. Perry with provoking calmness. + +"You'll find out who my father is, just you wait. You haven't any right +here. These islands belong to my father and--" + +"Oh--ho!" interrupted Mr. Perry in tone of sudden discovery. "So that's +the way the wind blows, is it? I get you now. You're the son of one of +those kidnappers." + +The boy's face twitched, possibly with pain, more likely with alarm at +his having betrayed his identity so foolishly. + +"We'll get down to the bottom of this mystery yet," Cub declared +confidently. + +"Yes, all we need is a little mathematics, Mr. Perry, and we'll soon +solve the problem." + +"We've had some mathematics already," Mr. Perry smiled. + +"I didn't see it," returned Cub. "Maybe I'm slow." + +"No, you haven't got farther than your One's in the addition table. You +can add 1 to any other number, but you can't tell how much 2 plus 2 are." + +"All right, I'm foolish," admitted Cub. "Spring your joke." + +"This is a rather serious situation in which to spring a joke," +reminded the "foolish boy's" father. "But didn't you hear me put two +and two together when this fellow declared that this island belonged to +his father?" + +Laughter greeted this sally, in spite of the seriousness of the +situation. + +"By the way, I wonder if we haven't got this youngster's father a +prisoner on the Catwhisker," Mr. Perry continued. Then he turned toward +the youth on the cot and inquired: + +"Is your father a tall, angular fellow with a smart, flip way of talking, +and do his friends call him captain?" + +The catapult victim did not answer, but the expression on his face was +all the evidence that was needed to indicate what an honest reply would +have been. + +"I thought so," said Mr. Perry. "Now, would you like to make a trip down +to the landing and occupy a stateroom in the Catwhisker with your father? +The Catwhisker, by the way, is a yacht in which we made a trip from +Oswego, New York, to rescue a boy marooned by some young scamps on this +island. After he was marooned, your father and his friends kidnapped him +and took him away. Now, what we want to know is, where is he?" + +Still the wounded prisoner made no reply. + +"There's going to be some awful serious trouble for your outfit if that +boy isn't returned," Mr. Perry went on, waxing fiercer and more fierce in +his manner as he purposely worked up a towering rage for the sake of its +effect on the boy on the cot. "Would you like me to turn you over to the +father of the boy whom your scoundrel gang kidnapped? What do you think +would happen to you if he got hold of you? Well, he's on the boat down at +the landing, and your father is there too, under lock and key. And before +long we're going to have the whole gang of you under lock and key. Now, +don't you think it is best for you to give up your secret and tell where +that boy is?" + +The prisoner was now thoroughly frightened. He shrunk away from the +glowering owner of the Catwhisker as if he feared the man's clenched +fists were about to rain blows on his wounded body. At last he gasped in +trembling tones: + +"I don't know, I don't know." + +"Don't know what?" thundered Mr. Perry. + +"I don't know--I don't know--where he is," stuttered the terrified boy. + +"And I don't believe you, young sir. Do you understand me? You're not +telling the truth. Come on, boys, we'll turn him over to the father of +the boy they kidnapped." + +"Oh, no, no; don't, please don't, mister," pleaded the scared youngster. +"I don't know where that boy is; please sir, I don't. But I'll ask my +father to tell if you'll take me to him." + +"There, I thought we'd get something out of you," said Mr. Perry in tone +of satisfaction. + +"But you didn't do it with mathematics this time, dad," Cub declared in a +voice that indicated full confidence of victory. + +"Oh, yes, I did, my youthful minus quality," his father flashed back. "I +multiplied my wrath very righteously, and this fellow is going to have +his woes multiplied and his joys subtracted and his peace of mind divided +into a thousand more pieces if he doesn't get busy on the square and see +to it that young Alvin Baker is returned to his father." + +"He isn't hurt nearly as bad as he pretends to be, Mr. Perry," Hal put in +as the "mathematical man" indicated that he had "spoken his speech". "He +moved his leg several times. You better watch out or he'll be jumping up +and making a dash for liberty." + +"I'd been noticing that," Mr. Perry replied. "I wouldn't insult Bud's +catapulting powers by intimating that this fellow wasn't pretty badly +hurt; but I do think we've overestimated the extent of the injury. He was +completely knocked out by the blow, but he's been recovering here pretty +rapidly. Come on, now, Master Howard--what's your first name--won't tell, +eh?--all right; we'll find out in due time--come on, let's talk a walk +down to papa and that terrible man whose claws are just aching for +revenge for the loss of his son. What--you can't get up? Well, boys, pick +him up again and carry him. Be careful, of course, for he's in some pain +yet. Now, we'll march. Bud, you bring up the rear with your mediaeval +rubber pistol, and I'll march beside you. If anybody, tries to interfere +with us there'll be some crack-shot shooting." + +Hal, Cub, Bud, and Max picked up the wounded boy in approved +relief-ambulance-corps style and carried him, with a few groans and moans +from their burden, across the open area, through the narrow belt of +bushes, to the top of the hill that overlooked the landing. There Mr. +Perry called a halt and then hailed the yacht thus: + +"Ahoy, the Catwhisker." + +All listened breathlessly, but no answer came. Then the owner of the boat +put greater volume in his voice and repeated the hail: + +"Ahoy, the Catwhisker! Ahoy, the Catwhisker!" + +This time an answer came, but hardly in the manner expected. + +A muffled, rattling, rackety noise came from within the cabin, the door +of which seemed to be closed. It sounded as if someone were pounding and +kicking the walls like an insane patient in an unpadded room. + +"What in the world does that mean?" Cub demanded, giving utterance to the +apprehension that thrilled every other member of the party. + +"I don't know," his father replied; "but I'm going to find out pretty +quick. You boys stay here with the prisoner. I'm going down there to +investigate." + +With this announcement, he drew his automatic for ready use and began to +descend the steps they had fashioned in the stony hill before +establishing their camp on Friday Island. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +Chased Out + + +The investigation did not take long. The boys watched Mr. Perry as he +crossed the moonlit deck of the Catwhisker and entered the cabin. A few +minutes later he returned on the deck and with him were two men, whom the +observers on shore recognized as Mr. Baker and the Canadian officer. Then +Mr. Perry called out: + +"Come on down here, boys." + +A minute later they were on board the yacht with their prisoner. Cub, the +most impatient of their number, was first to speak. + +"What's the matter?" he asked. + +"Matter enough," growled the officer. "Those scoundrels outwitted us, +locked us in the stateroom, and our prisoner is gone." + +The boys were so astonished that not one of them uttered a sound. + +"I haven't heard their story yet," Mr. Perry interposed. "We'll all get +it together." + +"It won't take long to tell how they did it," Mr. Buckley began. Then he +seemed to hesitate, glancing in some embarrassment at Mr. Baker. + +"I'll take all the blame," the latter confessed at this juncture. "In +fact, there's nobody to blame but me. I wasn't asleep at my post, but my +wits must have been slumbering, for one of those fellows stole up behind +me and gave me a rap on the head that put me to sleep sure enough. When I +woke up I was in a pitch dark stateroom, with the door locked. Luckily my +searchlight had not been taken out of my pocket, and soon I had the place +well enough lighted to determine where I was. I also found something +else; I found Mr. Buckley in the same condition that I had been +in--unconscious. Mr. Buckley can tell you the rest." + +"There's absolutely nothing for me to tell," Mr. Buckley replied, "I went +to sleep on the cot in the cabin and woke up with a headache in the +stateroom. Mr. Baker was working over me as if I'd been shell-shocked on +the battlefield. I think we both were sandbagged, for there were no +bruises on our heads. We were locked in and probably would have been +driven to the necessity of breaking the door open if Mr. Perry hadn't +come when he did and let us out." + +"I found both the stateroom door and the cabin door locked with the keys +on the outside," Mr. Perry explained. "Well, we have this consolation at +least: While we were losing one prisoner, we were capturing another." + +"What do you mean by that?" Mr. Buckley; demanded quickly. + +"Here's the new prisoner right here," was the other's reply, indicating +the catapult victim who had suddenly found himself able to stand with his +weight on his uninjured leg and aided by two of the Catwhisker boys. + +"Who is he--one of that gang?" asked the officer. + +"He's a son of one of them, probably the one who was rescued from you." + +"Lock him up in that stateroom at once, and I'll have something more to +tell you," Mr. Buckley ordered. + +The order was speedily obeyed; then all gathered eagerly about the +government officer. + +"The situation is this," the latter began. "When those rascals raided +this boat they robbed me of my gun and I suppose they got yours, too, +didn't they, Mr. Baker?" + +The father of the missing freshman slapped his hand on his "pistol +pocket" and then gasped: + +"Yes, it's gone." + +"I thought so," continued the officer. "Now, we have an armed enemy to +contend with. If they get wind of the fact that we have the son of one of +them a prisoner on this yacht, you can expect a fusillade of bullets +popping through your portholes any time. My advice is to get out of here +as soon as possible." + +"Where'll we go?" asked Mr. Perry. + +"We'll decide that after we get away. If you want to keep your prisoner, +don't stay here." + +"Dad's got his automatic yet," Cub reminded with youthful confidence in a +chamber full of shells. + +"And I've got my slingshot," chimed in Bud. + +"Tee-hee," laughed Hal. + +"Oh you can laugh all you want to, Tee-hee, but if it hadn't been for my +slingshot, we wouldn't have any prisoner at all right now," Bud flung +back with a suggestion of resentment. + +"Yes, we must give Bud credit for all he's done," Mr. Perry agreed. "We +owe a good deal to his ingenuity." + +"We ought to take our prisoner over to Rockport and put him in jail," +suggested Mr. Baker. + +"On what ground?" asked Mr. Buckley. "What would you charge him with? He +hasn't done anything except spy around your camp here. You couldn't put +him in jail for that and keep him there any time. Besides, his father +claims to own these islands--maybe he does." + +"Well, what are you in favor of doing?" asked Mr. Baker. + +"I think we ought to move your entire camp outfit to this boat and then +stand off from the shore for a while and keep our eyes on this place with +spyglasses--have you got a pair?" + +"Yes," Mr. Perry replied; "two good strong pair." + +"Then we'd better get busy at once before they suspect what has become of +this boy we have here." + +"All right, let's get busy at once," said Mr. Perry. "The boys, however, +must stay here on the boat. We don't want to run any risk of their +falling into the hands of the enemy." + +"Oh, Mr. Perry, let me go along with you and get my radio outfit," +Hal begged. + +The yachtsman looked at the pleading youth for a few moments in +hesitating manner. + +"I don't know," he replied slowly. "Still, I suppose we could protect +one of you if anything happened. Well, inasmuch as we men don't know +anything about disconnecting a radio hook-up. I guess we'll take you for +one trip. Come on; no more delay. Keep a good lookout, Cub and Bud, and +set up a holler if anything goes wrong. And, Bud, be careful not to +mistake us for the enemy when we return; we don't want to be hit by that +sling of yours." + +"We ought to have a signal, so we could be sure to recognize each other," +Bud suggested. + +"All right, what'll it be?" + +"The Catwhisker ought to have an official signal," said Hal. "Why not +make it 'meow'?" + +"Very good; it's adopted." + +The first trip was made without incident worthy of special note. Hal and +Mr. Baker brought all of the radio set except the aerial, and Mr. Perry +and Mr. Buckley each carried a load of camp equipment on their return +trip. Then Mr. Perry insisted that Hal remain on the yacht, and the three +men went ashore again for another load. + +But from this trip they came back sooner than looked for, and the manner +of their return alarmed the boys, who expected momentarily to hear pistol +shots fired at them from the shore. The three men came down the hill to +the landing almost at a run, and as they reached the deck, Mr. Perry +announced in cautious tones: + +"Boys, we'll have to leave that camp as it is for a while. Those men are +up there watching for us. We don't want to get into a gun battle with +them; so we're going to back out of here as fast as we can." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +A Radio Eavesdropper + + +The Catwhisker was backed out of the narrow inlet or strait, in which she +had been moored, without interference on the part of the hostile men on +Friday Island. Whether or not the latter knew of the departure of the +yacht, the men and boys on board had no way to determine. It is probable, +however, that they heard the coughing and sputtering of the gasoline +engine and that they watched proceedings from any of the numerous places +of concealment afforded by rocks, bushes, and trees along the shore +elevations. + +At any rate, the most careful scrutiny of the deep shadows revealed +nothing to the Catwhiskerites and their guests as the yacht worked its +way out of the inclosure, and presently they exchanged congratulations +one with another on the assurance that they were well out of pistol-shot +range from the group of islands. + +"How far do you think we had better go?" asked Mr. Perry addressing +the Canadian officer after this matter of concern had been well +taken care of. + +"Oh, I think we ought to find a mooring place at some island about a mile +from here and try to get a little sleep before daybreak," Mr. Buckley +replied. "I'm sure Mr. Baker and I need some brain rest after the slams +we got on our craniums. I've got the worst headache right now that I ever +had in my life." + +"So have I," Mr. Baker chimed in. + +"All right, let's not discuss this affair any more to-night," Mr. Perry +proposed. "Boys, you may as well get your wits together to arrange the +most comfortable sleeping quarters possible under the circumstances. I +guess about all our bedding is at the camp." + +The boys set about to do as suggested, but it was not long before they +realized that wits could do little for them regarding rest convenience +for the remainder of the night. Presently they reported back the +following results to Mr. Perry: + +One lounge in the cabin, bedding enough for one of the berths and enough +other bedding and articles of clothing to be rolled into pillow +substitutes for half a dozen sleepers. + +Presently Mr. Buckley, who had been keeping a sharp lookout ahead in the +moonlight, supplemented by the strong headlight of the Catwhisker, +pointed out what seemed to be a suitable mooring place for the yacht for +the rest of the night, and a careful run-in was made, accompanied by +pole-soundings to prevent running aground. The depth proved to be O.K., +and in a short time the yacht was tied up to a small tree which leaned +over almost far enough to dip some of its branches into the water. As all +were eager to waste no time belonging to nature's nocturnal period of +rest, the pillow substitutes were soon rolled and the various sleeping +quarters assigned according to varying degrees of necessity. Because of +their "sand-bag headaches," Mr. Baker and Mr. Buckley were given the +cabin lounge and the available stateroom berth. Although they felt +reasonably safe against further intrusion in their new quarters, +nevertheless it was deemed wise to maintain a series of one-hour watches, +the first of which fell to Mr. Perry by his own choice. Before the +general retirement of all but the first watch, an inspection was made of +the stateroom prison, and the boy prisoner was found to be fast asleep on +the floor with one arm for a pillow. + +Hal was given the last watch, beginning shortly before the break of day. +Bud who had preceded him, handed over his slingshot together with a +supply of stones which he had brought in one of his pockets from Friday +Island. Hal accepted the catapult with profound respect, expressing full +confidence in his ability to repel a formidable array of would-be +boarders with a weapon of such knock-out record. + +After it was light enough for him to see what he was doing, Hal occupied +his time by connecting his radio set for service on the yacht once more. +When this task was completed, he set about to prepare breakfast, deciding +that he would let the sleepers get another hour's rest, as he could +prepare the morning meal alone almost as quickly as with the aid of one +or two others. He had already learned the truth of the housewife's axiom +that "two are a crowd in a kitchen, and three are a throng." + +At 7 o'clock he called all the sleepers to breakfast. The two "sand-bag +headaches" were no more, and everybody was as cheerful as could have been +expected under the circumstances. + +"What are we going to do about Bud's prisoner?" Hal inquired as they were +about to gather around the cabin table, which was well loaded with +appetizing dishes, some of them steaming hot. + +"Oh, we'll have to give him some breakfast," replied Mr. Perry, starting +for the prison-stateroom. "I'd quite forgotten him." + +Without more ado, the prisoner was produced and supplied with +conveniences to prepare for the morning meal. After he had washed and +combed his tousled hair, he presented a fairly respectable appearance and +was given a place at the table. He sat through the meal without as much +as a "thank you" for dishes passed to him, and the other breakfasters, +observing that he was in anything but a cheerful mood, did not attempt to +draw him into conversation. + +After breakfast the three men on board held a conference, the result of +which was an agreement to run back to the Friday Island group and make an +inspection of it with glasses from every possible angle. In this way they +hoped to be able to obtain a clew relative to the headquarters and +activities of the men who had ordered them to move their camp from Friday +Island. Then the engine was started, and the course of the Catwhisker +directed up stream. + +"Now, my friend," remarked Mr. Buckley, addressing the young Canadian; +"you'd be perfectly welcome to the freedom of the deck under ordinary +circumstances, but the present are extraordinary circumstances, so we'll +have to ask you to resort to the pleasures and comforts of the cabin. +Boys," he added, addressing the three young Catwhiskerites, "you may go +into the cabin, too, and get acquainted with him." Then in lower tone to +Cub, who stood near the officer, he suggested: "Maybe he'll be more +talkative with you boys than he has been with us men. See if you can't +get something out of him." + +Cub "tipped" Hal and Bud as to the purpose communicated to him by +the Canadian officer, and the three conducted "Bud's prisoner" into +the cabin. + +But the latter proved to be about as uncommunicative as he had been +when the older members of the yacht's company tried to get something +out of him. He appeared to be bright enough and not especially coarse +grained, so that from the standpoint of quality qualifications, there +seemed to be no reason for his sullenness. Hal frankly made a statement +to him to this effect, but it produced no result of the kind desired +and intended. They got only short, surly returns in response to their +most friendly advances. + +At last they gave it up and returned on deck. Before leaving the cabin, +however, Cub said to the prisoner: + +"Now, if you'll promise to stay here and not make any attempt to escape, +we won't lock you up. Otherwise we'll have to lock you up in a +stateroom." + +"I'll promise," was the fellow's laconic response. + +"By the way," Bud remarked, as they were about to leave the cabin, "would +you mind telling us the handle of your name? We know your father's +surname, but we'd like to know how to address you. You're too young for +us to call you Mr. Howard." + +"You c'n call me Bill, if you want to," the slingshot victim replied. + +Hal was particularly impressed with a sly, cunning look in the eyes of +the prisoner and told himself that the fellow would bear watching to keep +him out of mischief. + +"I tell you what I'd like to do," he said to his two friends as they +reached the deck. "I'd like to hide in the closet in the cabin and watch +that fellow. I bet he'd do something that would help us break his +mysterious silence." + +"You could steal down into that little alcove near the entrance of the +cabin and watch him there through the crack in the door," Bud suggested. + +"That's second best choice," said Hal, "I think I'll make use of +it at once." + +Accordingly he descended the companionway with the greatest caution and +succeeded in ensconcing himself in the position suggested by Bud. He had +not been there long when he was amply rewarded for his diligence. + +He could hear the prisoner moving about in the cabin and a peep through +the long narrow aperture along the hinge side of the door acquainted him +with the object of the Canadian boy's interest. The latter, apparently, +had just seated himself at the table, and with phones to his ears, was in +the act of tuning the instrument. + +Presently he appeared to be satisfied with this preliminary and put his +hand on the sending key. The fellow seemed to be perfectly at home with +the outfit. Now the key was tapping and the spark was leaping across the +gap. The secret watcher leaned forward eagerly to catch every sound. Yes, +it came in genuine enough dots and dashes, and he read them with ever +increasing astonishment. + +First the operator repeated a Canadian call several times. Then, +apparently, the call was acknowledged, and he sent the following message: + +"I am prisoner on yacht, Catwhisker, in hands of the fellows I tried to +hold back, with radio, as they were leaving Oswego, N.Y. They are +determined to solve mystery of your doings. Don't bother about me, but +tell pa to clean out his place as soon as possible and then let his +prisoner go. They have government officer with them on his trail and will +soon find his hiding place and raid it." + +"My goodness!" Hal breathed excitedly. "Now I'm getting at the bottom +of this affair. That boy is the anonymous amateur who pretended to +have a radio wager with Hal's cousin and tried to make us think his +SOS was a joke." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +The End of the "Mystery" + + +Hal almost held his breath in his eagerness to maintain perfect silence +in order that he might "listen-in" to this radio transmission until the +sender had telegraphed all that he had in mind to send. + +"My, if I only had an extension receiver," he thought. "How I would like +to hear what the fellow he's talking with has to say." + +Even as this longing came to his mind, "Bill" ceased to send and listened +attentively to something that was coming to him "over the wireless." +Presently he swung the aerial switch over and began to send again. + +"I tell you you are in danger," he dot-and-dashed. "That hiding place is +not safe any more. They will have a revenue cutter down on you, before +you know what has happened. The government officer suspects the truth, I +am dead sure." + +A few more sentences of similar purport were sent in reply to other +messages received. Then "Bill" cut the radio conversation short with a +warning that he did not dare continue it longer and left the table. As he +got up from his seat, Hal stepped into the cabin and remarked: + +"Congratulations, 'Bill'; I didn't know you were a radio fan. But really, +I'm glad to recognize you as an old acquaintance." + +"Bill" turned as white as the proverbial sheet and trembled like the +aspen of similar associations. Then he blurted out: + +"I don't know what you mean." + +"Do you deny that you were just telegraphing a message to a friend of +yours?" Hal demanded. + +"No, not at all," replied "Bill". "I guess that ought to convince you I'm +not the criminal you're trying to make me out to be." + +"I'm not trying to make you out a criminal. I surely hope you're not. No, +I don't believe there are many criminals among radio fans and college +students." + +"College students!" + +"Say, 'Bill Howard', don't try to play the innocent to a fellow who's +been listening-in to your unconscious confessions ever since you began to +talk in your sleep," Hal scoffed with well simulated disgust. "I know +well enough who you are. You're one of the sophomores of Edward's College +who hazed Alvin Baker by marooning him on that island where his cousin +shot you with a slingshot." + +"Bill's" lower jaw dropped, and there was some more aspen trembling in +his frame. + +"You don't need to be so badly scared," Hal went on with a tone of +reassurance inspired by a purpose. "Of course that was a pretty raw +hazing, but you can get by with it yet if you don't carry your prank any +farther. Tell us where your victim is." + +"Give me a few days and I'll produce him," the frightened boy pleaded. +"He isn't hurt, and nobody's goin' to hurt 'im." + +"Well, I'm glad to get that much out of you," Hal declared with profound +gratification. "But I don't see why in the world you have to be so +mysterious about it. Why not tell me now where he is?" + +"I--I--can't," faltered the other. + +"Don't you know?" + +"No, but I can find out." + +Hal was sure the fellow was lying, and he looked at him with accusing +penetration. + +"You'll have to let me do it my own way," the Canadian youth added +stubbornly. + +Realizing that he could make no further progress with the prisoner at +present, and fearing that it might not be wise to disclose what more he +had learned by listening to the wireless messages the hazer had just +sent, Hal returned to the deck and recounted his experience in the cabin +to his companions. All were assembled at the pilot house when he gave +his recital. + +"This is important," said Mr. Buckley when the account was finished. "I'm +glad you didn't disclose to him the fact that you suspect anything is +going on of interest to the Canadian government. He won't be on his guard +so much perhaps as he would be if you had put all your cards on the +table. By the way, everything seems to be happening in our favor right +now. There's a Canadian revenue boat over there. Let's run over that way +and hail it." + +The boat in question was somewhat larger than the Catwhisker and looked +as if it might give the yacht a merry race if the two were matched for a +test of speed. She was 300 yards distant and in a few minutes the evicted +Friday Islanders had run up within short hailing distance of her. Then +Buckley gave a signal, which was recognized, and the two boats were +brought close together. A short conversation between Buckley and the +commander of the revenue boat was sufficient to acquaint the latter with +the situation, and he promised to remain in the vicinity in order that he +might come speedily to the aid of the Catwhisker when needed. + +Then began the work of careful examination of the Friday Island group +with binoculars. The yacht was only a few hundred yards from these +islands when the Canadian revenue cutter was sighted. After arrangements +for co-operation had been made with the commander of this boat, the +Catwhisker began to move slowly around the group, while Mr. Perry and Mr. +Buckley examined every detail of their littoral features with strong +glasses. Cub was at the wheel, and Mr. Baker, Bud, Hal and Max stood near +the two men with the glasses, eagerly waiting for significant results. + +"I wonder if this is to be the finishing stroke," said Bud, addressing +the two boys near him. + +Mr. Perry overheard the "wonder" and replied: + +"I am confident that we will solve the whole problem very shortly." + +"With mathematics?" asked Hal. + +"You see we are moving in a geometric circle, do you not?" Mr. Perry +returned with a smile. + +"Oh, look there!" suddenly exclaimed Max. "A motor boat." + +But there was no need of calling attention to so conspicuous an +appearance. All saw it at the same time. It darted out from a narrow +passage between two of the smaller islands surrounding the one that Alvin +Baker had denominated "Friday." It was a small cabin runabout, very +neatly designed and constructed; and apparently with a draft measured +only by inches. She made directly for the yacht. + +"Catwhisker, ahoy!" called out a youthful voice, and a wide-awake +red-haired boy put his head out of one of the port windows of the cabin. +"I want to come aboard with important information." + +Of course, everybody aboard the Catwhisker was astonished, but Mr. Perry +signaled Cub to reverse the engine. This was done, and the yacht soon +lost all headway. Then the runabout glided close up to the larger power +boat, and the boy who had hailed her sprang over the two adjacent rails. +Another boy could be seen in the pilot seat of the smaller craft. + +"My name is Halstone," announced the visitor. "I am from--" + +His announcement was drowned with exclamations of surprise from +his audience. + +"Hal Stone!" repeated several in chorus, including the Catwhisker's Hal +Stone himself. + +"Yes, Halstone," reiterated the challenged youth; Frederick Halstone. +"Anything funny about that? I'm the reporter from Watertown who was +dot-and-dashing with you folks last night. I got in touch with a friend +of mine right away who owns that motor boat, and he was crazy to make the +trip here after this big scoop. I'm here representing not only my paper, +but the Associated Press. We located Friday Island here without any +difficulty. But I brought my radio outfit and loop antenna along and +listened in just a short time ago to some messages between somebody who +said he was a prisoner on the Catwhisker and another fellow on a boat in +the cove I just came out of. You'd hardly think a boat of its size could +get in there. It's about the same size as the Catwhisker, and is built +and painted like it. I think you'll find the solution of your big mystery +is right there. They're loading a lot of stuff in boxes from a cave in +the steep bank of that small island next to the big one. The cove is +between these two small islands, which, you see, have high banks and are +covered with bushes and trees, so that their boat could rest there and be +invisible to anybody out on the river or on the shore of the larger +island that you call 'Friday'. They're making a big hustle to get away." + +"Is there a boy in there?" asked Mr. Baker eagerly. + +"Yes, several of them and four men. The men were pretty sore at me for +running in there, and they ordered me out. I don't think, however, that +there's much love lost between the men and the boys. I suspect the men +are smugglers, and the boys have got into a scrape they don't like. +There was an exchange of hot words going on just as I ran into their +hiding place." + +No more time was wasted in the making of explanations. The little revenue +cutter was signaled and in less than fifteen minutes half a dozen men, +including Mr. Buckley and Mr. Baker, were on the cabin-runabout which +again saucily invaded the retreat of the Catwhisker's "double." + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +The Result of a Radio Hazing + + +The raid was a speedy success. "Captain" Howard and his crew of +lawbreakers offered no resistance when they saw the odds against them, +for each of the men from the revenue cutter was armed and promised to +shoot to kill if a hostile hand was raised against them. + +Then they made an inspection of the cave, which was of considerable size +and lighted with an oil lamp, and there the lost victim of a radio +college hazing was found chained to a post that had been driven into the +ground floor. He had not suffered from malicious mistreatment in any +way, but was chafing under restraint and confinement. He was a little +older than the Catwhisker boys, but he had no "college airs" and was +soon telling his story as one boy to a group of chums, while the men +stood around and drank it all in as eagerly as if they themselves were +boys again. + +"Bill Howard made the biggest mistake of his life when he confederated +with three other sophomores to haze me," Alvin began. "He didn't know his +father had a hide-out here when they marooned me on Friday Island. His +father owns several motor boats that are used for pleasure excursions, +but, I suspect, he wasn't making money fast enough and fell for a scheme +put up to him from the other men who are now his companions in crime. +They were in touch with a gang of burglars and hold-up men who wanted a +means of disposing of their loot. They induced Mr. Howard to consent to +the use of one of his boats to convey stolen property of various kinds to +this cave as a hiding place, and from here, occasionally, to places of +disposal, principally in the United States. Well, Bill's band of hazers +unwittingly brought me to these islands, and before long there was a +pretty mix-up. The operators of this burglars' 'fence' found me on Friday +Island and got the idea, I suppose, that I was spying on them. At first I +hoped they would let me go, but I made some foolish remarks, based merely +on suspicion, about the character of their business, and they concluded +the jig was up and brought me right to this cave, and, of course, after +that I could see everything that was going on. Then the hazers appeared +on the scene. I suppose they became a little nervous about me. I gathered +from conversation I overheard that they stumbled into this place while +searching for me and then they were taken partly into the confidence of +the lawbreakers. But they're pretty smart boys, if they are sophomores +and if their leader is a son of a smuggler of stolen goods, and soon were +putting two and two together--" + +"More mathematics," interrupted Mr. Perry gravely. + +Alvin looked at him curiously, but this was no time for academic +digression, and the veiled quip had to await later explanation. + +Of course there was more discussion of the strange tangle of events, +which now seemed to be about to be cleared up. Indeed, it took many days +for them to thrash the subject out completely, but it would hardly do to +write another book on matters now essentially explained so we must leave +those details to the diversion of Friday Island camp. + +The camp was rehabitated, Hal's radio outfit was hooked up again with the +island aerial, and all of the Catwhiskerites and their newly discovered +radio friends enjoyed a week's undisturbed outing in the midst of recent +personal romantic associations. + +As for the "radio hazers," they went back home with no spirit of "brag" +over their achievements, and the members of the band of smugglers of +stolen goods were held in custody and eventually punished under sentences +returned in a Canadian court. + +Meanwhile Mr. Perry took steps looking toward the purchase of the Friday +Island group from the Canadian government as a summer camping place for +the Catwhiskerites and their friends. + + +The next volume of this series will be RADIO BOYS AND THE SKY PLOT or +BOTTLING THE BOREALIS. + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 12878 *** diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..fb2bcea --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #12878 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/12878) diff --git a/old/12878.txt b/old/12878.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..95af67d --- /dev/null +++ b/old/12878.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6323 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Radio Boys in the Thousand Islands , by +J. W. Duffield + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The Radio Boys in the Thousand Islands + +Author: J. W. Duffield + +Release Date: July 10, 2004 [eBook #12878] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE RADIO BOYS IN THE THOUSAND +ISLANDS *** + + +E-text prepared by Juliet Sutherland, Mary Meehan, and the Project +Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + +RADIO BOYS IN THE THOUSAND ISLANDS + +or, The Yankee-Canadian Wireless Trail + +by + +J. W. DUFFIELD + +Author of + +RADIO BOYS IN THE SECRET SERVICE; or, Cast Away on an Iceberg. +RADIO BOYS IN THE FLYING SERVICE; or, Held For Ransom by Mexican Bandits. +RADIO BOYS IN THE ROCKIES; or, The Mystery of the Lost Valley. + +1922 + + + + + + + +CONTENTS + + +Chapter + + I Vacation Plans + + II Tragedy or Joke + + III Talking it over + + IV The Catwhisker + + V A Baffling Situation + + VI A Mystery and Cub's "Goat" + + VII Returning Cub's "Goat" + + VIII Mathematics or Geography? + + IX The Radio Diagram + + X The Island-Surrounded Island + + XI The Deserted Camp + + XII Hal's Discovery + + XIII "Robinson Crusoe's" Diary + + XIV More Light and More Mystery + + XV The Hook-up on Shore + + XVI Running down a Radio Fake + + XVII Bud's Discovery + + XVIII Unwelcome Visitors + + XIX "S.O.S." from Friday Island + + XX Four Prisoners + + XXI The Hostage + + XXII The "Crusoe Mystery" Deepens + + XXIII "Sweating" the Prisoner + + XXIV "Something Happens" + + XXV Bud Shoots + + XXVI The Slingshot Victim + + XXVII Chased out + +XXVIII A Radio Eavesdropper + + XXIX The End of the "Mystery" + + XXX The Result of a Radio Hazing + + + + +CHAPTER I + +Vacation Plans + + +"Now, fellows, what are we goin' to do this vacation?" demanded Cub Perry +as he leaned back in his upholstered reed rocker and hoisted his size 8 +shoes onto the foot of his bedstead. "School's all over, we've all passed +our exams, and now we've got a long vacation before us with nothing to +do. It's up to yo-uns to map out a program." + +"Why can't you help map it out?" asked Bud Taylor with something of a +challenge in his voice. "You always have the last word?" + +"Cub's the dictator of our outfit, and we do the work, that's why," +declared Hal Stone. "We always have to listen to him, you know that, Bud. +So what's the use o' kickin'?" + +"Oh, I'm not kickin'," Bud replied. "It's no use. Cub 'u'd drown us out +with his voice if we hollered. You know you made 'im admit once that +noise was the only thing that 'u'd convince him." + +"You c'n change that now and call it static instead of noise since we've +all become radio experts," smirked Cub with characteristic superiority. + +"Ha, ha," laughed Bud. + +"Tee-hee," tittered Hal. + +By the way, it was from this peculiar manner of laugh, that Hal got his +nickname, Tee-hee. Cub's given name was Robert, shortened sometimes to +Bob and Bud's was Roy. Cub and Bud were always known by their nicknames, +but Hal was addressed as Tee-hee only on fitting or intermittent +occasions. + +The three boys were seated in Cub's room at the Perry home, one of the +largest and most interesting samples of domestic architecture in the City +of Oswego, on the shore of Lake Ontario. Cub was a rich man's son, but he +was constitutionally, almost grotesquely, democratic. There was nothing +that would make him angrier, to all appearance at least, than open +reference in conversation to the wealth of his father. For such offense +he was ever ready to "take off the head" of the offender. However, once +in a while one of the bolder of his friends would beard the lion in his +den more or less successfully. But it was necessary for such venturesome +person to be ever in command of ready wit in order to emerge with a whole +skin, figuratively speaking, and Bud and Tee-hee were the real leaders of +this victorious few. That was the reason why they were chums of Cub. + +The fact of the matter, to be perfectly frank, was that Cub was a good +deal of an actor. Whether he was conscious of this fact we will not +venture to say. He is the only one who knows, and we have never broached +the subject to him. The average person on first making his acquaintance +doubtless would set him down as a very domineering youth; some might even +call him a bully, but they would change their minds eventually if the +acquaintance continued. Perhaps the best way one could judge Cub, without +being Cub himself, would be to characterize him as being fond of playing +the bully just for fun. Indeed, it is quite probable that Cub carried a +perpetual laugh in his sleeve. + +This dominant youth was tall and lanky. He was only 17 years old, but as +big as a man, so far as altitude and the size of his feet were concerned. +He lacked one inch of being six feet tall, and he wore size 8 shoes. The +hope for his proportion was expansion, and judging from the hereditary +history of his paternal ancestry, there was good prospect for him in this +regard. His father was a large man and well built. + +To complete the description of Cub, he was a youth of very wise +countenance. He liked to read "highbrow stuff" and reflect and inflict it +on such victims as were unable to counter his domination. + +Bud was a short, quick, snappy, bold fellow, "built on the ground". It +is possible that he might have upset Cub in a surprise wrestle, but +nobody ever dared to "mix" with Cub in such manner; the lanky fellow +seemed to be able to out-countenance any suggestion of physical +hostility. The glower of his face seemed to spell subjection for all the +boy world about him. + +But Bud would blurt out something now and then that seemed to startle Cub +into a mood of reflection, and whenever Cub reflected his dominance +wavered. Tee-hee was able to accomplish the same effect without a +"blurt". Tee-hee was sly, "as sly as they make 'em", but it was a kind of +slyness that commands respect. It even gave an air of respectability to +his laugh, for, ordinarily, a "tee-hee" sounds silly. But Hal's "tee-hee" +was constitutional with him, and his sly shrewdness gave it real dignity. + +Cub was usually the dominating factor in all the boy arguments of their +"bunch", which varied in numbers from ten to twenty, according to the +motive of interest that drew them together. He seldom started an +argument, unless his disposition to "bawl" somebody out for uttering a, +to him, foolish opinion, he regarded as a starter. He seldom spoke first, +but usually last. One day he "bawled" Tee-hee for the latter's "silly +laugh", telling him that he would never be a man unless he learned to +"laugh from his lungs". + +"You seem to like a lot of noise," Hal observed. + +"Yes, it's the only thing that convinces me," Cub shot back rashly. + +He realized his rashness, but it was too late. Tee-hee "got" him. + +"I understand you now," the sly youth announced. "Whenever we have +a dispute, the only way for me to win is to make a bigger noise +than you do." + +But Cub was not slow, and he evened matters up by roaring: + +"You can't do it; you ain't got the lungs." + +However, there was a serious side to this trio of radio boys. They were +not known chiefly for their frivolity, which probably would have +characterized them if they had got into any bad scrapes. Their deportment +was really above reproach, so that their parents reposed a good deal of +confidence in them and allowed them to do pretty much as they wished in +the matter of their recreation and sports. On the occasion with which the +narrative opens we find them very serious minded over a very important +problem, although it seemed well nigh impossible for them, even under +such circumstances, to bar severely all manner of gaieties. + +"I don't see where there's anything new for us to do this summer," said +Bud after the merriment over the "static repartee" with Cub had subsided. +"We c'n go camping or fishin', or we c'n stay at home and listen in." + +"Oh, you haven't got any invention in that head o' yours, Bud," declared +Cub with tone of disgust. "Tee-hee, take your turn and see if you can't +hand us somethin'." + +"Aw, why don't you furnish some brains for us, Cub," Bud objected with +spirit. "I never knew you to yet. You just razz us till we turn up the +thing all of us wants, and then you act as if you'd done all the work." + +"Well, what do I pay you for?" Cub demanded, with an air of final +judgment. + +Of course, Cub did not pay them anything; that was just a little evidence +of his exasperating domination. Bud saw, as usual, that there was no use +of trying to carry his protest further, so he gave way to Hal, who looked +as if eager to take his turn. + +"I tell you what let's do," proposed the latter. "Let's go campin' and +take one of our radio sets with us." + +Cub leaped to his feet enthusiastically, bringing his feet down on the +floor with a force that seemed to jar the whole house. Fortunately there +was a substantial rug between his descending number 8's and the floor. + +"That's what I call brains, Tee-hee," he declared, reaching over and +planting a hearty slap on the author of this ingenuity. "You deserve a +bonus. The scheme is hereby adopted." + +"Without consulting me?" demanded Bud with very good simulation of +hurt dignity. + +"Absolutely, Bud, you fell asleep and let Tee-hee get ahead of you." + +"And meanwhile, what did you do?" Bud inquired pointedly. + +"I sat in judgment over your suggestions," Cub replied readily. "You +fellows needed somebody to decide what your suggestions were worth. +That's my function--get me?--my function." + +"Well, I was goin' to vote for Tee-hee's idea," said Bud with slight tone +of resentment. "You might 'ave let me get my vote in." + +"It wasn't needed, it wasn't needed," Cub ruled. "Two's a majority +of three." + +"I'm going to vote for it anyway. I think his idea is a dandy." + +"Your vote is accepted and recorded as surplus noise." + +"Static, you mean," Bud suggested with modest sarcasm. + +"To be up to date, yes." + +"Tee-hee," laughed Tee-hee. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +Tragedy or Joke? + + +The three boys discussed vacation plans along the line suggested by Hal +for half an hour, and then Cub said: + +"We can't get any further on this subject to-night. It's nearly 8 +o'clock; Let's go in the radio room and listen to some opera music +for a while." + +He led the way into an adjoining apartment, a veritable radio laboratory. +Two years before, as a wireless amateur, Cub had built for himself in +this room an elaborate sending and receiving set, and he proved to be one +of the first, boy though he was, to appreciate the outlook for the +radiophone, even before "the craze" had gripped the country. He soon had +his father almost as much interested in the subject as himself, so that +the question of financing his latest radio ambition was no serious +obstacle. An early result of this active interest on his part was the +addition of a receiving amplification with which he could listen in to +messages from major-power stations in the remotest parts of the country. +Indeed, under favorable conditions, he had picked up messages from as far +distant points as Edinburgh, Scotland, and Australia. + +Cub sat down at the table and tuned to 360 meters. The other boys seated +themselves comfortably and waited with a kind of luxurious contentment +for the beginning of the program, which came in a few minutes. They "sat +through" the entire Westinghouse program and then Cub began to "tune up +and down" to find out what else was going on in the air. The room for +several minutes was resonant with a succession of squeaks, squawks, +whines, growls, dots-and-dashes, whistles, and musical notes. Suddenly he +gave a start that aroused the curiosity of his friends and made them more +attentive to his actions. + +"Did you get that?" he shouted. + +"No," replied Bud and Hal, in chorus, springing forward. + +Cub was tuning excitedly back and forth about a certain, or uncertain, +wave length, which he had lost. + +"Put on your 'phones," he said, putting on his own. "You may not get it +through the horn. I'm sure I got an SOS, very faint. I'm going to try to +get it again." + +Bud and Hal did as directed and listened with quite as much eagerness as +that which was evident in Cub's manner. Several minutes elapsed before +the search was rewarded. Then at last, in fairly distinct, although +faint, vibrations came the distress signal again. All three heard it, and +this time Cub caught the wave "on the knob" and did not let it go. + +The operator sending the distress signal was evidently pleading +desperately for attention, which nobody, it seemed, was willing to give +to him. Several times he repeated his SOS, following each repetition with +his own private call and wave length. Then he broadcast the following +message in explanation of his appeal for help: + +"I am marooned on island in Lake of Thousand Isles. I landed here from a +motor boat with wireless outfit. Lake thieves stole my boat and left me +here with outfit and little food. Will starve in few days if I don't get +help. My call is V A X." + +"Cracky!" exclaimed Bud excitedly. "Isn't that a thriller! He's an +amateur and in trouble. We're in honor bound to help him." + +"How?" demanded Cub derisively. "What can we do here nearly two hundred +miles away from him?" + +"We might get word to some police or lake patrol that'll go and take him +off," Hal suggested. + +"He's a Canadian," objected Cub. "Didn't you get his Canadian call? We'd +have the time of our life getting a Government station to pay any +attention to us hams. But listen, somebody's calling him." + +All three listened-in eagerly, expectantly, wonderingly. Apparently +this fellow also was a Canadian amateur, although he failed to +identify himself. + +"Oh, come off, you can't get by with that Robinson Crusoe stuff in this +twentieth century," he "jeered" with all the pep he could put into his +spark. "Some joke you're trying to play. What kind of publicity stunt is +this, anyway?" + +"No publicity," was "Crusoe's" reply. "I'll starve if I don't get +help. You're doing your best to kill me. Keep out, I won't talk to you +any more." + +"I will not keep out," declared the other. "You're an imposter. I'm +protecting the public." + +"Whew!" ejaculated Cub, wiping his brow and snapping over the aerial +switch. "I'm going to find out something about this." + +A moment later his right hand was working the sending key with the speed +and skill of an expert, while blue flames leaped over the gap with +spiteful alphabetic spits. Hal and Bud watched him eagerly, and, with a +skill indicating long and studied practice, read the message their lanky +friend shot through the ether. + +First he tuned for a few moments and then sent the call which had +accompanied the first Canadian's "SOS". Then he threw back the switch and +received a speedy answer. There seemed to be an almost spasmodic +eagerness in the manner in which he sent his acknowledgment. + +"I heard your call for help," was Cub's next cast. "Who was that fellow +that snapped you up so sassy?" + +"I don't know," answered the professed castaway. "I've been trying to get +help for more than a day, and he always breaks in and queers my call. He +makes everybody think I'm putting up a prank." + +"Where is your island?" asked Cub. + +"Somewhere in the Thousand Islands. That's the best I can locate it. I've +never been here before. Where are you?" + +"At Oswego, New York." + +"What's your call?" + +"A V L." + +"Can you do anything for me?" + +"I don't know what I can do unless I try to interest somebody near you by +wireless. I'll send out a broadcast in any manner you may suggest. But +you can do that just as well as I." + +"I have done it over and over, but it does not do any good," said +"Crusoe". "That evil genius of mine always manages to queer me. Finally I +got so desperate that I sent out an SOS." + +"And committed a radio crime," broke in the alleged evil genius. "Don't +you know the rules governing that distress signal?" + +"There he is again," "Crusoe" dot-and-dashed. + +"Who are you?" demanded Cub. + +"I am Canadian amateur," was the reply. "That fellow who sent the +distress signal is a Canadian college student trying to put over a +college prank. I am on his trail to prevent him. We have a wager up; if +he induces anybody to go to his rescue, I lose." + +"That is not true," interposed the sender of the SOS. + +"What is your call?" Cub inquired. + +"Yes, give it to him, and tell him what college I am from," proposed the +"fellow on the island". + +"One of the conditions of our wager is that I must not reveal my +identity," returned the anonymous amateur. "He's bound by like terms. He +does not dare give you his name and address." + +"That fellow is insane or a villain," declared "Crusoe". "I do not know +who he is, but if I starve to death, he'll be a wanton murderer. My name +is Raymond Flood. I am not a college student. I am a high school student +at Kingston." + +"Is his name Raymond Flood?" was Cub's next query intended for the +anonymous amateur. + +"No," was the latter's reply. + +"What is it?" + +"Under terms of our wager, I must not reveal his name and he must not +reveal mine." + +"Whew!" exclaimed Cub, addressing his two friends, who removed the phones +from their ears, the better to hear him. "Can you beat that?" + +"We sure have hit a sensation of some sort," Hal declared. +"What'll we do?" + +"I don't know what under the sun to do," Cub replied. "I don't like to +pass him up, for fear he may be telling the truth; and yet, I don't like +to be the victim of a joke." + +"I tell you what to do," Bud suggested, without any seriousness of +intent, however. "Make a dash over the lake in your father's motor boat +and rescue this Robinson Crusoe." + +"By Jiminie, Bud!" exclaimed Cub enthusiastically! "You've hit the nail +on the head. Our vacation problem is solved. That's what we'll do, all of +us. I don't care whether it's a joke or a tragedy; we'll make a voyage of +discovery over that way and see if we can't find Crusoe's island. What +say you, fellows?" + + + + +CHAPTER III + +Talking It Over + + +What could the fellows say? + +They couldn't say anything at first, so astonished were they at the +announcement from Cub. Then so great was their eagerness, following the +recovery from their astonishment that about all they could do was to +"fall over each other" in their efforts to express their approval. + +At last, however, the "panic of joy" subsided, and they began to sift out +the obstacles that must naturally obtrude themselves in the way of such a +scheme that involved such departure from the ordinary course of events. + +"Do you think your father will let us go?" asked Hal somewhat +apprehensively. + +"We've taken trips alone before," Cub reminded. + +"Yes, but only for short trips along the shore or up the canal," Hal +replied. "Ontario's a rough lake, you know." + +"Yes, but safe enough if you're used to it," Bud reasoned, coming to the +aid of his lanky friend. "If necessary, we could follow the bend of the +shore all the way and never get out of sight of land." + +"That would make the trip longer and consequently take so much more time +to get there," reasoned Cub. + +"Time's precious in a case like this," Hal averred. "Remember that we +must get up there in time to save a fellow with no food on hand from +getting an empty stomach." + +"How long would the trip take?" asked Bud. + +"Well, let's see," said Cub, picking up a pencil and beginning to figure +on a tab of paper before him. "The Catwhisker can make twelve miles an +hour under favorable conditions. We could start early in the morning and +reach the Thousand Islands surely by noon, and then have the rest of the +day to hunt for Mr. Robinson Crusoe." + +"It might be like hunting for a needle in a haystack," suggested Hal +dubiously. + +"Why shouldn't we be able to find him?" Cub demanded. + +"It depends on how well Mr. Crusoe can describe his surroundings for us +and how well we can follow directions," Hal argued. + +"That's true enough," Cub admitted. "Let's see if I can get 'im again and +what he can tell us." + +He had no difficulty in picking up the "desperate Mr. Crusoe" again, for +the latter proved to be "sparking" the ether with frantic calls in search +of the radio boy on whom he believed he had made a serious impression, +but who seemed, for some unhappy reason, to have forgotten him. + +"I was just discussing your case with a couple of friends," Cub +explained. "We thought we might make a run down your way in a motor boat +if you could give us a clear idea where your island is located." + +"I can't give you any latitude and longitude," was the "islander's" +reply. "I was captured in my motor boat only a mile or two away from +home. Then I was blindfolded and put here on this island by the rascals. +It's a small wooded island surrounded by several other small wooded +islands, making it impossible for me to hail passing boats. I will be +glad to pay your expenses and enough more to make it worth your while if +you will find me and get me away from here." + +"I don't know how we'd find you without cruising among the +Thousand Islands a week or two," returned Cub. "Have you a flag of +distress flying?" + +"It wouldn't do any good. Nobody would see it." + +"Oh, I have an idea!" suddenly exclaimed Hal, for he and Bud had put +their receivers back on their ears when Cub began to communicate with +"Mr. Crusoe" once more. + +"Hold the wireless while I talk with my friends," Cub directed to the +fellow "at the other end of the ether". Then he removed the phones from +his ears, and the other boys did likewise. + +"Well, what's your idea, Tee-hee?" the operator demanded with something +of a tone of business challenge. + +"Why, all we need is a radio compass," Hal replied. "You know I made one +last summer, although I didn't have much use for it. We can install it on +the boat and make a bee line for that fellow's island if he keeps his +spark busy to guide us." + +"Good!" exclaimed Bud. "That'll settle the biggest problem before us." + +"Yes," Cub agreed. "You're a regular Thomas Edison, Jr., Tee-hee. I think +we'll have to elect you captain of this expedition." + +"If we make it," Bud conditioned with a slightly skeptical grin. + +"My opinion, if it's worth anything to you guys," said Cub; "is that we'd +better map out our plan thoroughly before we say anything about it to our +fathers. Then we can put our arguments in convincing manner." + +"We must finish our plan to-night, for we ought to start not later than +Wednesday morning," Bud argued. "That'll give us one day to get ready +in." + +"We'll need all that," said Hal. "Now, let's get busy, boys, and see how +near our plan is finished. It's after 10 o'clock, and I'll have to go +pretty soon. If we go, we'll need--" + +"Some food," itemized Bud. + +"Yes, enough for us and to feed a starving Robinson Crusoe," amended Cub, +beginning the list on a fresh sheet of paper. + +"And drinking water." + +"No. 2," commented Cub, as he jotted it down. + +"And we ought to have a wireless set on hand," Hal suggested. + +"Sure," said Cub. "You bring that and your loop aerial. This set is too +big to transfer on board very well." + +"That about completes the list, doesn't it?" asked Bud. + +"We'll have to have a permit," said Hal. + +"Permit for what?" Bud inquired. + +"A permit from Mr. Perry to go." + +"You're kidding now," said Bud. "Maybe you think this is all a joke." + +"I'm afraid it is, but I'll eat my words--and glad to do it--if Cub's +father and our fathers let us go." + +"We've all got some persuading to do, there's no doubt o' that," Cub +admitted; "but I hope we'll succeed. I'll talk to father in the morning +at the breakfast table and call you fellows up an' let you know what he +says. Now I'll call Mr. Robinson Crusoe again and tell 'im I'll call 'im +in the morning and let 'im know what we can do." + +He had no difficulty in getting the "island prisoner" again, for the +latter was waiting eagerly for a message of hope. Cub, however, was +cautious in this regard, saying nothing about the plan of himself and his +two radio friends. He merely told "Mr. Crusoe" that he would do the best +he could for him and would call him next day, specifying the hour. Then +Bud and Hal went their separate ways homeward. + +At 8:30 next morning Cub called Hal on the telephone and inquired: + +"Hello, Hal, did you talk to your folks about our plan?" + +"Yes," was the reply; "and I just got through talking with Bud over the +wire before you called up." + +"Well, how does it stand?" + +"His folks won't let him go and my folks won't let me go unless some +experienced man goes along with us." + +"Hooray! we win!" yelled Cub. "Father thinks it's a peach of an adventure +and he's almost as crazy over it as we were last night. He says 'yes' +with a capital Y, and he'll go along with us. He says he's been wanting a +vacation with some pep in it for quite a while, and this scheme of ours +is ninety-nine per cent pep. If you and Bud don't go, father and I are +going anyway. So get busy as fast as you can. We're off this afternoon, +as early as we can get ready. I've already sent a wireless to Crusoe that +we're coming. Good-bye; I'm going to call Bud now. Be over here as soon +as you can and help us get ready." + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +The Catwhisker + + +The Catwhisker, a neat gasoline power boat of the cruiser type left the +private dock of the Perry home in Oswego early in the afternoon with the +three radio boys and Mr. Perry on board. This had meant some rapid work +by the members of the "rescue party" in preparation for the trip, for it +was necessary for them to do considerable buying in the line of +provisions and the transportation of a number of articles of incidental +convenience, together with one complete sending and receiving wireless +outfit. The hook-up of this outfit, on the boat, however, was left for a +more leisurely occupation after all other preparations for the cruise +were completed and they were well on their way. + +The name Catwhisker harked back to the days when radio, or wireless +telegraphy, was in its infancy in the experience of the three boys whose +adventures are the inspiration of this volume. Mr. Perry bought the motor +boat at a time when his son and the latter's two chums were busy +experimenting with crystal outfits, and the name of the cruiser was +suggested to them by the fine spring-wires used to make contact with the +crystals in their detectors. No doubt, it was the catchiness of the word, +as well as its association with their hobby, that appealed to them in the +general search for a name for the boat. + +This vessel was 36 feet long, with a beam of nine feet and with a canopy +covering the after deck. Amidships was a raised bridge deck on which were +mounted and housed the wheel and engine controls. Under this and the +after deck were the engine-room and the galley, and forward of these were +the cabin and two small staterooms. At the bow and in the stern were two +tall slim masts that had been erected solely for the extension of a radio +aerial. The hull was painted white with a blue stripe midway between the +bridge-deck level and the water line. + +Cub and his father were real chums in matters of boating. Mr. Perry, +although ordinarily a man of very neat appearance, on the present +occasion had discarded his usual sartorial excellence and appeared on the +Catwhisker in clothes easily associated with cotton waste and oil cans. +Indeed, he could take care of the engine quite as well as his son, who +was an amateur expert, and seemed to enjoy discharging his full share, of +all the "overall and apron tasks" on board. + +Mr. Perry took charge of the wheel and engine controls of the yacht at +the beginning of the cruise, so that his son and the other two boys were +left free to perfect the hook-up of the radio set supplied by Hal. First, +two wires, attached to spreaders at both ends, were extended between the +two masts for an aerial, and a lead-in was arranged through one of the +windows of the cabin. On a fixed table near this window they anchored +firmly the various portions of Hal's sending and receiving set, in order +that these might not be thrown down and damaged if the lake should become +rough. As the apparatus was supplied with two steps of amplification, Hal +had brought also a loud-tone horn to facilitate occasional parlor +entertainment should they have leisure to listen-in to programs from +various broadcasting stations within their receiving range in the course +of their cruise. + +Hal's outfit was by no means as elaborate or as expensive as was Cub's, +but it was sufficient to receive radiophone programs, under favorable +conditions, from the strongest stations 300 or 400 miles distant, while +the strong spark of his code transmitter had earned for him a wide +acquaintance in amateur circles. + +Before they started, Cub had another dot-and-dash tete-a-tete with "Mr. +Crusoe", acquainting the latter with the latest developments of their +plan and requesting him to call the Catwhisker regularly at half-hour +intervals if the more limited set they would take with them proved +insufficient to reach him from the start. + +"When we reach the Thousand Islands, we will get busy with our loop +aerial and find you by radio compass," he promised. + +The mysterious intermeddler who professed to have a sporting wager with +the "island prisoner," was on hand with a machine-gun stream derisive +waves, but Cub refused to pay any attention to him, not that he regarded +that fellow's version of the affair as utterly unworthy of consideration, +but, for the time being, at least, he did not wish to believe it. He was +eager for the adventure, which might be spoiled if his father became +convinced that "Mr. Crusoe's" SOS was a gambling hoax. + +The boys took regular turns at the radio table in the cabin that +afternoon and found the occupation of listening-in much more interesting +than it had been at their homes, not because of any particular difference +in the messages, but because of the more romantic character of their new +motives and surroundings. Even the multitude of static interferences that +swarmed the atmosphere on this, the first oppressively hot day of the +season, were combatted with tuning coil, condenser, and detector, so +confidently, although with poor success, that Mr. Perry pronounced them +all "princes of patience". + +In other words, the boys were in the best of spirits, all handicaps +notwithstanding. Cub's father had not taken his first lesson in wireless +telegraphy, and so left the radio field entirely to the three young +amateur experts. In spite of the heat, they were able to get a more or +less broken message now and then from the "island prisoner", but could +get no acknowledgment of receipt of messages sent by them until about +supper time. + +"If it weren't for this heat, we probably could 'ave got a message to him +as we were leaving Oswego," Cub remarked to Bud after they had been on +the lake about two hours. + +"The atmosphere is the worst I've ever known it to be," returned Bud, who +had been laboring hard with key and spark for some time. "If it don't +clear up, we may not be able to begin our hunt for him before morning." + +"Well, we'll go along until half an hour before dark, I suppose, and then +find a place to tie up till morning," said Cub. + +He consulted his father on the subject, and the latter indorsed the plan. + +The lake was rather choppy, in spite of the calmness of the day; +consequently, the Catwhisker was unable to make a record run to the head +of the St. Lawrence River. Ontario is not a placid lake, although it has +not the heavy roughness that characterizes Lake Huron. A strong current +is driven through its middle by the flood of the upper lakes after its +plunge over Niagara Falls, and along the shores is a back-sweep of eddies +and swirls. Hence the pilots and shippers of small boats on the lake, if +they are wise, keep their weather eyes well peeled for any disturbance +that may augment the natural roughness of this body of water. + +Mr. Perry and his three boy companions were all well aware of the wisdom +of weather caution while cruising in the Catwhisker. In the morning +before starting, they had consulted the Government forecast and found the +outlook favorable, but they were well aware of the fact that absolute +dependence should not be put upon even so learned a being as a Great +Lakes weather man. + +Bud made the first score in the frequent attempts to get a message to the +"island prisoner". Conditions in the ether became much better toward +evening when a cool wind began to blow. Just before sending the message +that reached its goal, Bud received the following from VAX: + +"Where are you? Can't you reach me? Nobody in sight yet. Ate my last +crust of bread an hour ago. Have to drink lake water to keep alive. Try +again to get a message to me." + +Bud tried again and received the following reply: + +"Got you faintly. Try again. Where are you?" + +But fifteen minutes elapsed before the boy at the key was able to score +again. After that, however, they had no difficulty in reaching "Crusoe +island" with key and spark. + +Then arose the question as to whether they should attempt to find the +"radio Crusoe's" island that evening or should seek a suitable mooring +place and postpone the search until morning. + +"There's one matter to be taken up before we decide to go much further +to-night," said Mr. Perry, who had just turned the wheel over to Hal and +joined the conference in the cabin. + +"What's that?" asked Cub. + +"The weather. We're right at the beginning of the Thousand Isles now, but +we can have a nasty time of it anywhere in the upper part of the river in +a storm. The wind is getting pretty lively, and you know how much the +temperature has dropped." + +"Oh, I can take care of that," Bud declared eagerly. "I've been having a +chat with a 'ham' somewhere along the coast. I'm sure he'll get the +evening forecast for me." + +As he spoke, Bud dropped his eye on the log where he had made note of the +shore "ham's" call and then began to tune for his wave length. To his +gratification, he found the fellow busy with his spark and waited till +the message was finished; then he threw his aerial switch into sending +and lettered the call. The "ham" answered and asked what was wanted. + +"I want the weather forecast for to-night," Bud replied. "We're out in a +motor boat and want to know if it's safe to stay out till dark." + +"I'll get the latest by telephone and call you back in a few minutes," +was the operator's generous offer. + +Ten minutes later the promised call came, thus: + +"Clear to-night. Wind brisk, but not violent." + +Cub was listening-in and read this message to his father. + +"That means we can go on nearly three hours yet before we have to seek a +post for the night," the latter announced. + +"Good!" exclaimed Cub. "Now I'm going to test that radio compass and see +what may be expected of it in the morning if we don't find Mr. Crusoe +to-night, which isn't very likely." + +Preparation for the test was simple and quickly made. The loop aerial, a +collapsible affair, was set up in the cabin and connected in such manner +that it could be used for receiving simultaneously with the use of the +outside aerial for sending. + +While Cub was thus occupied, Mr. Perry set a hasty supper of prepared +foods on the table and "ate a bite". Then he returned to the chart and +wheel house and relieved Hal, sending the latter back to the cabin for +his meal and for further radio consultation with the other boys. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +A Baffling Situation + + +The compass worked admirably. Although the principle of the affair was +very simple, Hal must be given credit for having done his work well. + +So satisfactory did the device prove from the moment when it began to +take messages from the "island prisoner", that all on board the +Catwhisker became hopeful of success before sun-down. "V A X" kept a +stream of waves leaping from his aerial for their guidance and the motor +boat chug-chugged along like a hunting hound made more and more eager by +the increasing excitement of the hunt. + +"I wonder what's become of the fellow who tried to head us off," remarked +Hal as he left the supper table and prepared to relieve Cub at the +wireless. "You haven't heard anything from him, have you?" + +"No, not a thing all day," Cub replied. "I guess we've tired him out. Did +you get anything from him, Bud?" + +"Not a shiver of the wires," answered the latter. + +"Maybe he's given us up as hopeless easy marks," Cub suggested. + +"Why, do you think his story is true and 'Bobby Crusoe' is a fake?" +asked Hal. + +"I don't know. I wouldn't be surprised to find almost anything--or +nothing--as we get near to the end of our hunt." + +"But he must be on the island," Bud reasoned. "And he must have a +wireless set, or he couldn't have sent the messages we got. That much +is certain." + +"Not all of it," Hal objected. + +"Why?" Bud demanded. + +"Maybe he isn't on an island." + +"You mean, maybe the whole thing's a fake--eh?" + +"Maybe." + +"If the whole thing's a fake, then that other fellow who tried to head us +off must 'ave been a party to the game," Cub interposed. + +"There wouldn't be much sense in that," said Bud. + +"I agree with you," Cub continued. "The scrap between those two hams was +genuine enough." + +"But they were holding something back from us," Hal declared. + +"Both of them?" asked Bud. + +"I shouldn't be surprised." + +"Nor I, either," said Cub. + +"Then they've put one over on us," was Bud's inference. "Are you +sorry we came?" + +"I? No, sir!" Cub emphasized. "It's a dandy adventure, whatever the +result. I didn't swallow that Crusoe story whole at any time." + +"Neither did I," said Hal. + +"I thought there were some funny things about it," Bud announced +reflectively; "but I didn't know how to put them together or take +'em apart." + +"That was my fix," said Cub; "and it's my fix yet." + +"I guess we all agree that the whole affair is very strange," Hal +concluded. "We really don't believe we've been told the truth, and yet we +get in worse trouble when we try to make something else out of it." + +"I wonder what your father thinks about it, Cub," said Bud. + +"Oh, he accepts it at its face value for the sake of the adventure," the +tall youth replied. "But he's wise enough to know there may be a lot of +hocus-pocus in the business." + +For nearly two hours the motor boat wound its way at a fairly good clip +among the picturesque islands of the upper St. Lawrence, the radio +compass fixing the course as certainly as the hunter's pursuit is +directed by the nose of his hound. They had no way of telling, at any +time, how far ahead was the object of their search, but they had the +satisfaction of knowing that they were constantly approaching it. At last +an unexpected climax threw their hitherto clear prospect into confusion. +This climax grew out of a series of confounding messages from the "lost +islander". + +"I see you coming," was the first of these messages. + +"Where is he?" asked Cub and Bud in chorus. Hal was at the table and the +other two boys were listening-in. + +"I don't know," replied the operator. "One of you boys go on deck and see +what you can see." + +Cub dashed up the companionway two steps at a time. In a few moments he +returned with the announcement: + +"There's an open stretch of four hundred yards ahead of us. He's probably +on the island at the other end. I'm going back on deck and watch for +developments." + +There was a speaking tube communicating between the pilot house and the +cabin and through this Cub kept his boy friends acquainted with the +progress of the search. They reached the island in question, but not a +sign of human life was discoverable on it. The motor boat passed around +it, and meanwhile the radio-compass found the strength of its receiving +directly down stream. Cub communicated this condition to the cabin, and +Hal dot-and-dashed the following to "VAX": + +"Where are you? We can't see you." + +"I saw you," was the reply. "I climbed a tree and saw you headed right +for this group of islands." + +"No, no," objected Hal. "It must be another yacht." + +"Aren't you a white cruiser with awning mid and aft, and pilot house on +bridge deck?" asked "VAX". + +"Yes," answered Hal. + +"There's somebody calling us," remarked Bud at this point. + +"Yes, I get 'im," returned Hal. "Why, it's the mysterious guy who tried +to head us off night before last and yesterday." + +Both boys read the "mysterious guy's" first send with eager impatience. +It was as follows: + +"He's making sport of you. Mark my word, when you reach the island, +he'll be gone." + +"Keep out, you pirate," ordered Hal. + +"All right, but you'll call yourselves a bunch of fools." + +The next instant the "island prisoner" broke in thus: + +"Hurry; they are after me. I think they are the ones who marooned me +here. Their boat looks like yours, I guess." + +"See!" exclaimed Bud. "This makes things look bad. If those fellows are +robbers they're armed. We haven't a gun on board, and if we had we +wouldn't want to get in a fight over an affair that looks more like a +joke than a tragedy." + +"And yet it may be a tragedy," said Hal. + +At this moment Cub reappeared in the cabin and the situation was +explained to him. + +"It begins to look like a tragedy," he admitted; "and yet if we treat +it as a tragedy and it proves to be a joke, we'll feel like a comedy +of errors." + +"Now, you're getting highbrow, Cub," was Hal's mock objection. + +"It's common sense, isn't it?" the youthful philosopher reasoned. + +"Yes, but you forget one thing," the sly-eyed Hal rejoined: "With so much +Q R M, it's very hard to pick out common sense in an affair like this." + +"That's true," replied the other. "We've had more interference in this +trip thus far than anything else." + +"And the big question now is, how're we goin' to tune it out?" + +"I confess, I'm stumped," said Cub. "Guess we'll have to refer the +whole matter to father, but I bet he'll be up against it just as much +as we are." + +Cub turned toward the companionway with the intention of seeking an +interview with Mr. Perry in the wheel house, but Hal delayed him again. + +"Wait a minute," said the operator. "Here's our island friend again." + +Cub and Bud donned their phones once more. The message received was more +startling than any preceding. + +"They are coming ashore," was dot-and-dashed into the three boys' ears. +"I see four bad-looking men. I am going to run before they see me +and--maybe--swim. Good-bye." + +"What in the world shall we do?" exclaimed Bud. + +"I'm going to find out," declared Cub, as he dashed out of the cabin. + +Hal, meanwhile, was busy again. The mysterious amateur who had +persistently attempted to turn the supposed near-tragedy into a joke was +spitting the Catwhisker's call again. + +"Fools!" he flashed spitefully. "Goodnight." + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +A Mystery and Cub's "Goat" + + +Cub hastened to his father and gave him a rapid narrative of events as +they had been received by wireless. + +"Well, that's interesting, to say the least," observed Mr. Perry with a +look of curious amusement. + +Cub waited a few moments for further comment, but as it was slow coming, +he asked impulsively: + +"What are we going to do?" + +"What do you think we ought to do?" inquired the man at the wheel, +looking sharply at his son. + +"I don't know; I'm stumped," was the boy's reply. + +"That's a frank admission. First time I've known you to admit such +absolute defeat. Do you think we'd better turn about and go back home?" + +"No," Cub replied with a revival of decision in his tone of voice. + +"Well, shall we stop, turn to the right or left, or go ahead?" + +There was a slump to indecision again. Cub looked foolish. His father was +making sport of him and he did not know how to answer intelligently. In +desperation, however, he replied: + +"Go ahead." + +"What for?" asked Mr. Perry. "Shall we dash to the rescue and face those +four men, who probably are armed with pistols?" + +"No, of course not. Anyway, we don't know where they are. They may be +twenty-five miles from here, for all we know." + +"Then we'll have to give up the search if you don't get any more messages +from him," declared the boy's father. + +"That's so," Cub admitted. "And if those men captured him and took him +away in their boat, this affair will have to remain a mystery in our +lives forever afterward." + +"You'd better go back to the cabin and see if Bud and Hal got any more +messages from him," suggested Mr. Perry. + +"That's the only hope left," said Cub as he turned to go. + +But this "last hope" proved to be vain. Bud and Hal were both still +listening-in, but with little suggestion of expectancy on their +countenances. + +"Anything more?" inquired the tall youth, unwilling to put his question +in negative form, in spite of the fact that his better judgment would +have dictated it thus. + +Both listeners shook their heads. + +"Then that's the end of our search," Cub declared with a crestfallen and +disgusted look. + +"Why?" asked Bud. + +"Answer the question yourself; it's easy," + +"I don't see why we should give up just because we've run up against an +obstacle a little worse than any we've met before," said Hal. + +"All right," Cub challenged. "Let's see what you propose to do." + +"Well," Hal responded slowly; "we could go on till we found--" + +He stopped and looked foolish. + +"Found what?" asked Cub. "The island? How would you do that without +something to guide your radio compass?" + +"That's so"; Hal admitted, with another foolish look. + +"It's too bad," Bud broke in, with tone well suited to his words. + +"I suppose the next thing for us to do is to look for a tie-up for the +night." said Hal indicating his sense of defeat by his change of subject. + +"I think father is doing that now," replied Cub. "Guess I'll go and see +what his idea is on that subject." + +By this time the Catwhisker was several miles beyond Grindstone Island +and was winding its way through a labyrinthine group to the north of +Grandview. The scenery here was so enchanting that Cub and his father +speedily agreed that the first convenient, unclaimed natural harbor that +they discovered ought to be adopted as theirs for the night. + +The season was well opened, and there were many boats on the river, so +many, indeed, that it seemed strange that any live, intelligent person +could be marooned on one of those islands, however vast their number, +without being able to call attention to his distress. However, there were +main highways in this, as in any other, semi-wilderness, and doubtless +some of the by-ways were less accessible, if not less inviting and in the +nature of things, less frequently visited. + +This company of "rescue tourists" had motored through the Lake of the +Thousand Islands before, and hence were not at a loss at any time how to +find their way. The spectacle, therefore, of a hit-and-miss, crazy-quilt +arrangement of long, round, high, low, green, bare islands, many of them +decked with a wealth of firs, pines, tamaracks, oaks, maples, bushes and +flowers, was not new to them. However, it was not long after their +decision to look for a mooring place when they found an ideal cove and +tied the Catwhisker to an overhanging bent, gnarled, contorted pine tree. + +No camp was made on the shore, as they had no intention of remaining at +this place longer than until the next break of day. All hands were pretty +tired after supper, but Hal decided he must listen-in for a while before +going to bed. So he donned a pair of phones and began to tune for an +evening program, when a call, clear and distinct, addressed to him, +suddenly held his attention. + +It was from the now mysterious "V A X", the "Island Crusoe". Hal answered +it and then received the following message: + +"Thanks awfully for your good intentions, but I didn't need any help. +Sorry to have troubled you. I did have a wager with that other fellow, +but not the kind he described. It was the first big contest in the +history of radio. I gave odds of four to one and am the winner. We both +went to the island together and each put up an independent receiving and +sending set. My part of the contest was to induce someone to come to the +rescue of me as an island prisoner; his part was to head off any such +rescue. He admitted I won after it was certain you were headed for us, +and then we both lost our nerve and ducked. Good-bye." + +Bud and Cub took the hint, from Hal's eager and almost awed manner, that +something unusual was coming in through the ether and donned phones in +time to catch the latter half of the message. This was sufficient to give +them a clear understanding of the situation. After the "good-bye" finish, +Hal made a desperate effort to hold the "Island operator" for further +conversation, but could get no reply. At last he gave it up and they +turned their attention to discussion of the situation. + +"Well, I wonder if that's the last well hear from him," said Bud as he +removed the phones from his ears, while the other two boys did likewise. + +"More of a puzzle than ever, isn't it?" Cub remarked. + +"Why, don't you believe the explanation he telegraphed to us?" Hal +inquired. + +"I do not," the tall youth replied positively. + +"Why not?" Hal persisted. "Doesn't it satisfy your lordship?" + +"Cut it out, Tee-hee," the alleged "lordship" ordered. "You make me +sore." + +"Then I'll rub on some salve." + +"If you do, you'll get your fingers burnt," Cub retorted. + +"I always thought you were a hot one. But that doesn't answer the +question before us." + +"No, because we don't know how to settle it," Cub admitted. "If we knew +what we're talkin' about, we wouldn't be batting this nonsense back and +forth. We can't hit the nail on the head, so we just fan the air. By the +way, what did that fellow say before Bud and I began to listen-in?" + +Hal reviewed the first half of the statement received by him. Then Mr. +Perry, who had just returned from ashore, where he had been testing the +security of the tie-up, entered the cabin. + +"What's the trouble, boys?" he asked, noting the studied expression of +their faces. + +"No trouble, exactly," Cub replied. "Just another mystery." + +"That's interesting," the yachtsman commented. "Tell me about it." + +"You get my goat, dad," Cub declared. + +Mr. Perry laughed. + +"Why do I get your goat, Bob?" he asked. + +"Because the more mystery there is floating around, the better +pleased you are." + +"Is that so? Well, what's the mystery now?" + +"You tell 'im, Hal," requested the youth of the "goat-got affliction". + +Hal did as requested. Quiet of several moments followed. + +"Well?" Mr. Perry interrogated. + +"Well!". repeated Cub vociferously. "Is that all you can say?" + +"I'd like to return your goat, Bob, but I don't see how I can," Mr. Perry +announced provokingly. + +"In other words, you don't see anything startling about that fellow's +last performance," Cub inferred. + +"No--o, nothing startling," his father replied slowly. + +"What do you make out of it, then?" + +"I don't know that I make anything out of it, except a lot of nonsense." + +"You think it's a joke?" + +"I wouldn't call it anything but a lot of nonsense until I know more +about it." + +"But doesn't it make you impatient to find out what it all means?" +Cub demanded. + +"No, not in the least. I got over that long ago, my son. Don't let any +such habit grip you; it'll wear your nerves out, and then you won't have +any lead-in to connect your antennae with your brains." + +"Ha, ha, ha," laughed the man's youthful audience in chorus, even Cub +appreciating the illustration. + +"When did you begin to study radio, Mr. Perry?" asked Bud. + +"Oh, I've been learning rapidly ever since I was thrown into the company +of you hams," was the reply. "But don't let me get you off the question." + +"The question--what was the question?" asked Cub, digging his fingers +into his rather lengthy locks of hair. + +"Mystery, wasn't it?" reminded Mr. Perry. + +"Yes, that's it," Bud replied. "The mystery of the Radio Robinson Crusoe +in the Lake of the Thousand Isles." + +"That sounds interesting, but it's mostly a poetic, or ecstatic, jumble +of words," said Mr. Perry. "And right there is the secret of many a +mystery. It's clothed in a maze of language. Remove the maze, and it +begins to look simple." + +"Where is the maze of language in this affair?" Cub challenged. + +"From what I've heard, the whole affair seems to have consisted +principally of language. Now, I tell you what we'll do. We'll go to bed +early and have a good sleep. In the morning, we'll shake this affair up +in a sieve and see if we can't get rid of everything but the main lumps +of the facts. Then we'll size them up and see what we can make of them. +In my opinion, we can get at the bottom of what you choose to regard as a +profound mystery." + +"If you do, pa, you'll return my goat," said Cub. + +"It's up to you, Bob," was his father's reply. "I've no desire to keep +him in my stable." + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +Returning Cub's "Goat" + + +In the morning after breakfast Mr. Perry called a conference on deck for +the purpose of discussing "the mystery and Cub's goat", as Hal put it. + +"Yes," said Bud, his sense of humor stimulated by this allusion; "all Mr. +Perry has to do to return Cub's goat is to prove there isn't any mystery +about the affair." + +"I didn't say I was going to do that," objected the adult member of +the party. + +"What--return the goat or disprove the mystery?" asked Bud. + +"Now you're getting facetious," broke in Cub. + +"Not necessarily," objected Mr. Perry. "I didn't promise, or have in +mind, to do either of those things. The fact of the matter is, a mystery +represents the state or condition of mind of the person mystified. Now, I +am not mystified over this affair at all; hence there is no mystery in +it, so far as I am concerned." + +"Then explain it to us," Bud challenged. + +"Oh, no; I didn't mean I could do that." + +"Then you must be mystified," Bud argued. + +"Suppose you have a difficult example to do at school, and finally after +working at it a long time you have to confess you can't do it--does that +mean it's a mystery and you are mystified?" + +This was a poser for the boys. They had never looked at a subject of this +kind on any such light. + +"Cub, you're the highbrow of our bunch," said Hal after some moments of +puzzled silence. + +"Oh, get away with that stuff," Cub protested, but, somehow, a faint +glimmer of satisfaction at the "compliment" shone in his countenance. + +"No, I won't, either," Hal insisted. "It's true. This thing is too much +for Bud and me. You've got to settle it for us." + +Cub "swelled up" a little with importance at this admission. He was +sitting in a camp chair with his feet resting on the taffrail, it being +a habit of his to rest his feet on something higher than his head, if +possible, whenever seated. Now, however, there seemed to be a demand +for superior head-work, so he lowered his feet, straightened up his +back, and said: + +"Well."--speaking slowly--"I don't want to get in bad with my father by +trying to prove I know more than he does, but my argument would be that +all of life is not arithmetic." + +"Good!" exclaimed Hal, eager to defend his belief in things mysterious, +and Bud signified his approval in similar manner. + +"Yes, that isn't bad at all," admitted Mr. Perry, glad to have stimulated +his son's mind into action. "But if we can't explain this affair with +mathematics, maybe we can explain it by some other element of human +education." + +"What, for instance?" asked Cub. "Not by readin', 'ritin', or +'rithmetic." + +"No, we'll exclude the three R's for the present, although all of them +may figure in our work before it is finished." + +"Well," mused Cub; "the others are history, geography, spelling--" + +"Why didn't you stop with geography?" asked his father. + +"Geography!" exclaimed Bud. "How can you use that to explain a mystery?" + +"It depends on whether geography is involved," Mr. Perry replied. "In +this case it seems to me that geography is a very important element. We +may have to know considerably more about the geography of the Thousand +Islands in order to solve this so-called mystery. Now, mind you, I don't +mean to say that we're going to get at the bottom of this affair, but I +do want to suggest that if it is to be solved by any systematic process, +the first elements to be employed in the process are a little geography +and a little arithmetic. With this in view, I would suggest that you get +busy with your wireless outfit and see what you can find out." + +The three boys gazed curiously at Cub's father and then at one another in +a puzzled manner. + +"Haven't I given you enough hint?" asked Mr. Perry. "I don't want to do +the work myself--in fact, I couldn't if I wished to, for I can't send a +wireless message; but if I could, I know exactly what I'd do." + +"We might send a broadcast to all other amateurs and find out if any of +them can help us," Hal suggested. + +"How could they help us?" asked Bud skeptically. + +"I'm sure I can't tell you," replied Mr. Perry. "But you have a dandy +field to work on. All you need is a little imagination; then begin to do +a little head-work, and before you know it you'll have a lead to work on. +And let me add something more. There are two things in this world, which, +working together, can knock a mystery into a cocked hat more successfully +than anything else in the world that I know of." + +"I bet I know what they are," Cub volunteered, eagerly. + +"Mathematics and imagination," almost shouted Hal in a wild scramble of +mind to beat Cub with the answer. + +The latter cast a wrathful glance at the saucy youth who had broken in +ahead of him. + +"Tee-hee!" laughed Bud with fitting imitation of Hal's characteristic +vocal merriment. + +As for Tee-hee, that worthy individual preserved his dignity for +the nonce. + +"Well," laughed Mr. Perry; "You've hit the nail on the head, but I +venture to say you can't explain why mathematics and imagination can put +a mystery to rout." + +Hal confessed he was unable to explain. + +"It's too much highbrow for me," he said. "And I bet it's too much +highbrow for Cub." + +The latter said nothing. Evidently he was thinking hard. He leaned back +in his camp chair and hoisted his feet upon the rail again. + +"Well, let's quit the highbrow field and get down to business," suggested +Mr. Perry. "If we're able to put this thing through along mathematical +lines, I bet you boys will have enough imagination to tell me why +mathematics and imagination can put any mystery on earth to rout." + +"I'm goin' to get busy with the spark gap," Cub announced suddenly, as he +sprang to his feet. + +"You've got a big thing ahead of you, boys," announced the owner of the +Catwhisker. "I venture to say there are some big surprises in store for +you. For instance, you're likely to find the newspapers of the United +States and Canada giving considerable space to this affair." + +"How are they going to get hold of it?" asked Bud. + +"There's where you're short of imagination, my boy. How many amateurs do +you suppose were listening in and got the messages between you and those +two radio contestants?" + +"I bet there were a hundred if there was one," declared Hal. + +"And were they interested?" + +"Were they?" exclaimed Cub. "Every last one of 'em was wild with +curiosity." + +"And did they talk about it to anybody?" + +"They didn't talk about anything else," Bud opined. + +"And didn't you suppose some of those amateurs know some newspaper +reporters?" + +"We fellows all know several reporters," said Cub, with an +appreciative grin. + +"All right," said Mr. Perry, significantly. "Now, all I have to say to +you boys is, watch the headlines whenever you get near a news stand." + +The three radio boys now repaired to the cabin, while the owner of the +yacht busied himself about matters of nautical interest to him on deck. + +"You've got to hand it to my father for one thing," Cub declared as he +seated himself near the radio table and hoisted his feet thereupon. "He +sure has some imagination." + +"And some mathematics, too, the way he subtracts mist from mystery every +time our brains get lost in a fog," Hal added, with a self-appreciative +"tee-hee." + +Cub and Bud also laughed in spite of Hal's excusable self-appreciation. + +"Do you know, I don't feel nearly so mystified as I did before that talk +with your father began," Bud announced. + +"It's the mathematics and imagination getting their work in," Cub +explained with a wink. + +"It sounds funny, and yet, I can't help feeling there's something to it," +Hal remarked. + +"Well," said Cub, bringing his feet down from the table with enough noise +to rivet a conclusion; "you may call it addition, or subtraction, or +multiplication, or division, or algebra, or geometry, or trigonometry, or +calculus--does that complete the list?--I'm going to make my imagination +leap across the spark gap; so here goes." + +He snapped the aerial switch into sending, began to "jiggle" the +key alphabetically, and the spark leaped with successive spits +across the gap. + +"Cub's got his goat back," Hal remarked with a knowing look at Bud. + +The latter grinned and nodded his concurrence. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +Mathematics or Geography? + + +But the morning proved to be a poor time for communication by radio for +two reasons. First, the atmosphere was warm, a poor condition for the +transmission of ether waves, and after all, night time is the ideal +season for such doings. Second, comparatively few amateurs were sitting +in at this time of the day, although vacation had arrived and closed the +schoolhouse doors. + +Cub kept up his efforts for an hour, with virtually no success. Although +he succeeded in communicating with half a dozen "hams", only one of them +had listened-in to any of the messages that passed between the Catwhisker +boys and the two Canadian radio contestants, and he was able to throw no +light on the "mystery". At last he gave it up for the time being, and +joined the other Catwhiskerites on deck for a period of sightseeing +enjoyment. + +They cruised about among the islands most of the day, stopping here and +there to inspect some apparently unclaimed scene of enchantment, or +visiting various places exploited for gain by private interests as +centers of entertainment and recreation. They circumnavigated Wellesly +Island, making short stops at several points of interest and at about +4:30 p.m. tied up in a quiet shelter overhung by a low-limbed tamarack +and cast their baited fishhooks into the water for a "brain-food" supper. +This was not more than half a mile from the tie-up where they passed +their first night in the Thousand Islands. The finny fellows bit greedily +and in a short time they had enough black bass and pickerel to feed a +party twice the size of theirs. + +After supper all repaired to the cabin, and the boys donned phones, while +Cub started a broadcasting campaign in search of information regarding +the two Canadian wireless contestants, who seemed to have made a trio of +monkeys out of the three radio motor-boat boys. + +"I haven't much idea what kind of questions to ask or what kind of +answers to expect," he said to his companions; "but here goes my +best guess." + +He had selected an intermission period in the atmosphere when the big +broadcasting stations were quiet, and then gave the general call and sent +out the following: + +"I want help to identify and locate an amateur who figured in mysterious +radio affair in last two days. He said his name was Raymond Flood, that +he lived in Kingston, that his call was V A X, and that he was marooned +on island in St. Lawrence River. Can anybody help me? Call A V L." + +Immediately three amateurs, two in Canada and one in New York State, +clamored for a hearing. Cub wrote down their calls and then took on the +one in Kingston first. + +"There is no such amateur in Kingston," the latter announced. "I know +them all here. V A X is held by somebody in Port Hope. I listened-in to a +lot of that stuff and called up three amateurs in Port Hope. I learned +that A V L is Alvin Baker who is attending Edwards College." + +"Why, he's my cousin!" + +This exclamation from Hal created a real sensation in the cabin of the +Catwhisker. Meanwhile Bud had been taking the message down longhand in +order to preserve a record of the investigation, so that Mr. Perry, who +read as the boys wrote, got the progress of events about as rapidly as +did the three youthful experts. It is needless to say that he was as much +astonished as were his boy companions. + +But there was no time now for a discussion of family relationship. After +a round of gasps and exclamations, they got down again to the business of +their radio investigation. + +That was about the extent of the information that the Kingston amateur +was able to communicate to them, except that he had been an interested +listener-in to much of the code conversations between the would-be +rescuers and the two very strange radio contestants. He, however, +promised to make further inquiries and to call them again if he learned +anything that might be of interest to them. + +"Well, dad, it looks as if you were right when you told us how to go +about to solve this mystery," Cub remarked as he dash-and-dotted a "G N" +(good night) to the Kingston amateur. + +"You mean problem," reminded Mr. Perry with a smile. + +"Well, maybe,--I won't dispute your word since your idea has proved so +brilliant thus far--but I can't see the mathematics yet." + +"Nor the geography?" + +"Well, yes; it took us from Kingston to Port Hope and from there to +Edwards College," Cub admitted. "I suppose there's a little +geography in that." + +"Remember this, that mathematics isn't all figures," said the operator's +father. "Keep that in mind, and maybe it'll be worth something to you +before we're through with this affair." + +"How does the discovery of my cousin come in?" Hal inquired. "Is that +geography or mathematics?" + +"Do you mean that, Hal?" asked Bud wonderingly. "You don't mean that +fellow is really your cousin?" + +"I surely do, if he's Alvin Baker. You know my folks used to live in +Canada. And don't you remember that my cousin Al visited us three years +ago with his father and mother? He wrote to me several times from Edwards +College, but I didn't know he had a wireless set, and I suppose he didn't +know I had one." + +"Well, it makes the hunt more interesting, anyway," said Cub. "But let's +not waste any more time. Here goes again." + +He called the other Canadian amateur on his list of three and learned +from him that many wireless boys had followed the course of the rescue +boat with their receiving outfits. From him Cub got the calls of four of +these interested boys. Then he called the third on his original list, but +all the information the latter was able to give was that a metropolitan +morning newspaper carried a column "story" on the front page about the +Thousand Island Crusoe and the rescue boat from Oswego. + +"You're right again, dad," said Cub, with a grim grin of subdued wonder +and eagerness. + +"I shouldn't be a bit surprised to find that the Associated Press has +chartered a boat and is following us," declared Mr. Perry. + +"Would that be mathematics or geography?" asked Bud. + +"It would be imagination," replied Mr. Perry with a keen smile. "But, +say, Cub, don't you think you've grabbed off enough glory for yourself? +Give your friends a chance to win some honors." + +"Right you are, dad," returned the boy at the key, rising and removing +the phones from his ears. "Hal, you call half this list and then let Bud +call the rest" + +It was well for the sake of a distribution of honors that this course was +taken, for a thrilling surprise was in store for them in response to the +next call. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +The Radio Diagram + + +As good fortune decreed, Hal found Number One in the new list sitting in +and listening for anything interesting in the ether. It required only a +few short sentences to acquaint this amateur with the object of the +Catwhisker's search. + +"I can tell you just how to find those fellows," he replied. "I +listened-in to the best line of detective work on that subject you ever +heard of. Sherlock Holmes isn't in it there." + +"Hooray!" shouted Bud, as he finished jotting down the last sentence. + +"There are three amateurs, one in Clayton, N.Y., one in Rockport and +one in Gananoque, Ontario, who have radio compasses and they worked +together to locate the fellow on the island," continued the informant +with the eagerness of fraternal interest and generosity. "I will give +you their calls--" + +The message was interrupted by a strong spark, which could not be +ignored. Sender Number one stopped sending, and Hal gave ear to the +new message. + +"I will save you the trouble," read the dots and dashes evidently +addressed to the operator he had just "crowded out," "I am at Rockport +and am one of the three radio compass boys referred to. I can supply the +dope right now." + +Hal threw over the aerial switch and flashed the one word "Shoot!" Then +he swung back again and all three boys listened eagerly. + +"Have you a good map of the Thousand Island region?" inquired the loop +aerial operator. + +"Yes," Hal replied. + +"Well, take these directions and then draw the line on the map. Draw one +line from Clayton, N.Y., northeast, 47-1/2 degrees from perpendicular; +another from Rockport, Ontario, southeast, 11 degrees from +perpendicular; another from Gananoque, southeast, 76 degrees from +perpendicular. The intersection of those lines will indicate the island +those messages came from." + +"He was on an island, was he?" asked Hal. + +"Sure, or on a boat," was the reply. "He could not have been on the +mainland. We were careful and could not have been more than a mile off in +our reckoning. All three of us hit it the same." + +"Where was the fellow who tried to head us off?" asked Hal. + +"When?" + +"At any time." + +"We located him at various points along the river. No doubt he was on a +boat up to the very last when the two were very near together." + +"Where was the island operator when he sent his last message? Did you get +the one in which he confessed the affair was a hoax?" + +"Yes. But he did not send that message. It was sent by the other fellow." + +"How do you know?" + +"That was plain. Did you not notice his peculiar manner of sending? All +three of us noticed that." + +"Did you pick up any more from them since then?" + +"Not a dot." + +Hal then asked the obliging amateur to indicate as nearly as possible the +location of the island from which the messages came. The latter did as +requested, and Hal marked the point on the chart of the St. Lawrence +River carried by the Catwhisker. This closed the wireless interview. Hal +promised to report back to the Rockport amateur any further developments +of interest and tapped "goodnight" with his key. + +"Well, your two main points have been proved, Mr. Perry," Bud announced +as all three boys removed the receivers from their ears. + +"What are they?" asked the man thus addressed. + +"Mathematics and geography." + +Mr. Perry smiled. + +"Yes," he said "I could hardly have hoped for so remarkable a +demonstration of my theory. You boys have solved the geography of this +problem with the aid of some very clever mathematics. But what branch of +mathematics is it?" + +"We didn't do it ourselves," Hal reminded. "It was those three amateurs +with their loop aerials." + +"Wasn't it more mechanical than mathematical?" Cub inquired meditatively. +"Those radio compasses make me think of a surveyor's instrument." + +"Oh, pshaw, my boy, don't spoil everything," pleaded the last speaker's +father. "I'm afraid you've missed the big point. Mathematics is the +biggest factor in all mechanics. Bud, I thought from the way you spoke +that you grasped the situation completely. Can't you help Bob and Hal +out? By means of what branch of mathematics was that island of our +Canadian Crusoe located?" + +"Geometry," replied Bud confidently. + +Cub snapped his finger with an impatient jerk of his long right arm. + +"Of course!" he exclaimed in disgust. "Every branch of mathematics I ever +heard of, except geometry, went buzzing through my head. I was trying to +recall something in algebra that would fit this case." + +"Oh, Cub," laughed Hal; "algebra is all x's and y's and z's over z's and +y's and x's," + +"I admit I'm a chump," Cub grinned with a shrug of self-commiseration; +"but say, let's draw those geometrical lines on our chart and see if we +get the same result those radio compass fellows got." + +Cub produced the chart and a hand-book diagram of a mariner's compass +about three inches in diameter. Fortunately the chart was made of thin, +vellum-like paper, almost transparent, so that when laid over the +diagram, the minute points of the compass, indicated with clear black +lines, could be seen through. First the dot representing the town of +Clayton was placed over the point at the center of the compass, with the +north and south line of the compass exactly coinciding with the meridian +of the town. Then Cub traced on the chart lightly with a pencil the +47-1/2-degree northeast line of the compass. Next he performed a similar +operation with the center of the diagram over Rockport and next with the +center of the diagram over Gananoque, following instructions in each of +these cases with reference to the direction lines to be drawn. The result +was that the intersection of the three lines was at approximately the +point indicated by the Rockport amateur. + +"Now we're ready to continue our search," Cub announced. + +"That's pretty good progress, I must say," Bud declared; "but here's a +new question to get us into trouble again." + +"Oh, for goodness sake, don't," pleaded Cub. "You've had your example of +what my mathematical dad can do with such foolish creatures." + +"Let him express his doubt," suggested Mr. Perry with a smile; "for, +if a man must doubt, he'd better shout than smother his ideas in a +skeptic pout." + +"Yes, get it off your chest, Bud, and then take your medicine," +advised Hal. + +"Well, suppose we find the island and nobody there, how are we going to +know it's the right one?" + +This hit the other two boys pretty hard. The possibility of such a +situation had not occurred to either of them. However, Cub preferred to +take it in lighter vein, for he replied: + +"By his footprints on the sandy beach. You mustn't have a Crusoe Island +without some footprints, you know." + +"The trouble is you're anticipating too rapidly, Bud," Mr. Perry advised. +"Columbus would never have discovered America in that frame of mind." + +"All right, I'll change the frame," said Bud. "We'll just go ahead and +see what we shall see." + +"We've got to go ahead if Hal's cousin is in peril," declared Cub. + +"Do you really believe the Crusoe boy is your cousin, Hal?" asked Bud. + +"Of course that's hard to believe, but the evidence points in that +direction," Hal replied. + +"At least if he is your cousin, we know now that he wasn't making monkeys +out of us, as that last message, supposed to come from him, made it +appear he was doing," Cub admitted. + +"Yes," put in Mr. Perry; "it looks now as if he was telling a straight +story all along." + +"If that's true, then he's probably in serious trouble right now," said +Hal. + +"Probably a prisoner in the hands of robbers, if not worse," Bud +supplemented. + +"Let's go to bed at once and get a good night's rest so that we will be +in condition to put forth our best efforts to find him and rescue him in +the morning," proposed Mr. Perry. + +This proposal met with indorsement from all, and in a short time they +were in their berths, employing their best skill to induce sleep under +condition of much mental excitement. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +The Island-Surrounded Island + + +Early next morning the Catwhisker left its mooring under the tamarack and +started on the new search for the "Canadian Crusoe's" island. + +Guided by the "mathematical chart" prepared with the directions given by +the radio-compass amateur, the crew of the motor boat had little +difficulty in finding the approximate location of the island prison; but +when arrived there, they realized that considerable work was still +before them, for they were in the midst of a veritable sea of islands, +varying in size from a few car-loads of stone and earth to several acres +in extent. + +"Well, how are we goin' to begin?" asked Hal as Cub stopped the engine in +a pond-like expanse, surrounded by a more or less regular rim of islands. + +"The first thing to do, I should say is to make the best possible +reckoning of our bearings and then try to fix the point of intersection +of those three lines indicated by the radio compasses," said Mr. Perry. + +"That's right," Cub agreed. "We mustn't forget our mathematics." + +"It seems to me that we ought to be able to pick this place on the +chart," Bud suggested. + +"Yes, especially if we keep in mind the location of some other landmarks, +or watermarks, that we passed in the last half or three-quarters of an +hour in getting here," said Hal. + +Cub produced the chart, and the study of locations and island +arrangements began. As indicated by expectations in the course of their +discussion, they were able to locate a few of the larger islands and with +these as bases for further reckoning, they at last picked out what seemed +to be the point of intersection of the three pencil lines on the chart. +This necessitated a little more cruising about, but within an hour after +their first stop they completed their reckoning. + +"There's the island that seems to come nearest to the intersection," +said Mr. Perry, pointing toward an abrupt elevation, a hundred yards +long and half as wide and covered with bushes and a few small trees; +"but it doesn't seem to answer the description very well. No other +islands near it." + +"I don't see how anybody could be marooned on that place with boats +passing back and forth near it every hour of the day," Hal commented +skeptically. + +"Neither do I," Bud agreed. + +"Well, let's do our work thoroughly anyway," Mr. Perry suggested. + +"Shall we go ashore and look that place over?" asked Hal. + +"Sure." + +"But what do you expect to find?" Cub inquired. + +"I don't expect to find anything. I had no expectation when I suggested +that you boys canvass the radio field for information to clear up what +you chose to call a mystery. I had no idea what might turn up as a result +of such canvass, but I know it was about the only thing for you to do to +start a move in the desired direction." + +"And something sure did move," Hal remarked appreciatively. + +"Well, let's run around this island and find a landing place," Cub +proposed. + +The run was made, with Cub in charge of the wheel and engine controls. +They circumnavigated the island with unsatisfactory result. + +"That settles it," Bud declared. "If San Salvador had been like that, +Columbus would have made his first landing somewhere else!" + +"Robinson Crusoe would never have found any footprints in the sand +there," Hal declared. + +"Yes, we'll give it up for the time being," Mr. Perry declared. "We won't +try to scale any perpendicular banks, fifteen or twenty feet high, at +least, not to begin with." + +"I tell you what we ought to do," Hal volunteered next. "Let's accept +this island as the center of probability." + +"What in thunder is that?" Cub demanded. + +"That's a good one on you, son," laughed the latter's father. "I thought +you were the highbrow of your bunch; but here's our subtle Tee-hee +putting a bit of clever phraseology over on you." + +"Oh, I know what he means," Cub rejoined with a panicky haste to recover +lost prestige. "I was just giving him a dig. He's forever giving me one, +whenever I come along with anything of that kind." + +"It indicates that his mind is maturing rapidly," said Mr. Perry. +"All right, Hal, we'll accept this island as a center of +probability--what next?" + +"Why, let's cruise around about half a mile in all directions and pick +out those islands that look as if they might have concealed a prisoner +from view of passing boats." + +"That's a good suggestion," said Mr. Perry. "Bob, start the boat again." + +The inspection required about an hour, at the end of which they compared +notes and found that their island inventory disclosed the following +conditions: + +Three possible places of concealment for the "Canadian Crusoe" had been +discovered. Two were small islands a short distance from each other in a +region of shallows and more or less hidden by rows of long slim islands. +No boat of greater draught than a canoe could make its way through the +intervening passages. In other words, these islands were virtually +isolated from all river traffic. The other possible place of concealment +was an island about five acres in extent, completely hemmed in by a group +of other islands, which were so overrun with rampant vegetation, +including bushes and trees, as to conceal the inner isle from any but the +most scrutinizing vision. + +"That is the place we want to explore first," announced Mr. Perry as +reference was made to this retreat in the check-up. + +"I agree with you," Bud declared. "If the prisoner left any traces behind +him at all, we're likely to find them on that island in there." + +"Is there any way we can get in?" Hal inquired. "Too bad we haven't a +small rowboat or canoe with us." + +"We'll investigate and see what we can find in the way of a water passage +into the interior," Mr. Perry announced. + +"That means a little more circumnavigating," Bud inferred. + +"Right you are," said Cub. "Me to the pilot house again." + +Accordingly he resumed his position at the wheel and the boat was put in +motion again. His father followed him and cautioned him against too much +speed in such places. + +Slowly the Catwhisker crept around the island-surrounded island until +they discovered a passage somewhat wider and apparently deeper than +others they had seen thus far in the outer rim. + +"It looks as if we might get through there," suggested Hal. He and Bud +had followed into the pilot house soon after Cub and his father repaired +to that place. + +"It does look a little that way," replied Mr. Perry. + +"We might creep in there slowly, and if we find the passage obstructed so +as to block our way, we could back out," Hal continued. + +"We have some long fender poles," Cub amended. "We could feel our way +with them and probably keep out of serious trouble." + +"All right, let's make the attempt," said Mr. Perry. "I'd very much like +to get in there with this boat." + +Cub started the engine and the Catwhisker began slowly to nose its way +through the passage. In a few minutes the little craft was alongside a +ledge of rock that projected as a sort of forehead from the top of a +perpendicular short front, and the pilot brought her to a full stop. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +The Deserted Camp + + +Both the inner island and the surrounding rim of elongated isles were +covered with a thick growth of trees and bushes, a condition that caused +Hal to exclaim: + +"I bet this is the place." + +"What makes you so certain of that?" inquired Mr. Perry, looking sharply +at the boy. + +"Because it's an ideal place for a Crusoe to be hidden so that passing +ships could not see him," Hal replied. + +"But might he not swim over to one of these surrounding islands and +attract attention from there?" + +"Yes, if there's a place to get ashore after swimming across," said Cub. + +"There's nothing but high steep banks all along here, so far as I can +see," Bud remarked. + +"That's a good line of observation," was Mr. Perry's commendation. "Now, +let's explore this island and see if your points are well taken." + +Even the landing at which the boat now rested was not particularly +attractive as such at first view because of a rather difficult climb +between it and the main level of the island. However, all the members of +the band of "Crusoe hunters" were good climbers and they soon made their +way up the stony steep to the surface land level. + +"It's funny somebody hasn't picked this place as a site for a summer +home," Mr. Perry remarked as he took a hurried view of his surroundings. + +"The trouble is it doesn't look like a very interesting place from a +view out on the river, and there are hundreds of islands to choose +from," said Cub. + +"Yes, I suppose so," his father agreed; "but in my opinion the place +deserves a second look-over. I'm going to keep it in mind as a future +prospect." + +"We'll have to put up a radio station here then," said Cub. + +"Oh, sure, we can't do without that wherever we go now-a-days," his +father replied. + +They skirted the entire shore of the island and found Bud's suggestion +regarding high, steep banks to be true in every quarter. Not another +practical landing place, except with derrick or rope ladder, was +discovered. They estimated the island to be about five acres in extent. + +"Well, we haven't found much evidence yet, indicating that this is the +place we were looking for," Cub remarked as they arrived back at the +starting point of their exploration. + +"I suppose the next thing for us to do is to explore the interior of the +island, and then perhaps we'll be in a position to form some sort of +conclusion," said Mr. Perry. + +"All right, let's finish this job as soon as possible," Bud proposed, as +he started toward a thicket of bushes and small trees a few yards from +the landing place. + +All being in harmony with this plan, there was a general move toward the +interior. The thicket, however, proved to be only about twenty feet in +depth, and beyond this was a clear area a quarter of an acre in extent. + +"Somebody's had a camp here not many days ago," Cub announced, as he +pressed forward eagerly toward the center of the open area. + +"Yes, and a tent has stood right here," said Mr. Perry, indicating +several guy-rope stakes driven in the ground. + +"Whoever it was didn't leave more than a day or two ago," Hal declared. +"See how the grass is tramped down around here?" + +"What's this?" exclaimed Bud as he ran back toward the thicket through +which they had passed and picked up a pole about ten feet long and two +inches thick. + +Mr. Perry and the other two boys rushed forward and made an eager +examination of Bud's discovery. + +"This looks interesting," said Bud significantly as he called attention +to several worn places at both ends and the middle of the pole, as if +with iron rings or wire held close around it under a strain. + +"There's another just like this one over there," cried Hal, suddenly +darting forward toward a slender pine tree about a hundred feet away and +standing a short distance out from the thicket border of the open area. + +Mr. Perry, Cub, and Bud rushed after Hal, who picked up, under the pine +tree, a pole almost the exact duplicate of the one found by Bud. After a +careful examination of them both, Mr. Perry announced: + +"It looks to me, boys, as if you had discovered the spreaders of a +demolished aerial." + +"No doubt of it," Hal agreed. "Somebody used this tree and that one over +there as masts of an aerial." + +"But trees are not supposed to be good for aerial masts," Bud objected. + +"They're all right if you have your insulation well out beyond the +branches," said Cub. + +"Yes, that's true," Bud admitted. "And look up there--see that wire? The +fellow who took down this aerial didn't do his work very well." + +All looked up in the tree and saw a wire hanging down among the branches +and appearing to be attached at the farther end near the top of the pine. + +"It was probably done in a hurry," Mr. Perry observed. + +"And that is one more point to the argument that this is the island we +were looking for," said Bud. + +"Yes, but the fellow we came to rescue is gone and left no trace where +he's gone to," added Cub. + +"Still, don't you think the search has been worth while?" the latter's +father inquired. + +"I do," put in Hal, who had been noticeably quiet and meditative since +the last very important discovery. "This makes it look as if that last +distress message we got from the island was no fake affair?" + +"Why?" asked Bud. + +"Why!" flashed Hal. "It's plain enough to me. Those four fellows, he said +were coming to attack him, probably overpowered him and swept away his +camp, radio outfit, and all." + +"And what did they do with him?" demanded Cub, eager for the last chapter +of the plot. + +Hal seemed about to make answer to this question, but something of the +nature of a "lump in his throat" checked his utterance. His friends read +his mind without difficulty. + +"Never mind, Hal," said Cub with his bravest effort at consolation; "if +the prisoner on this island was your cousin, we'll follow those enemies +of his to the end of the world and make them give him up, won't we, dad?" + +"Don't you worry too much over this affair, Hal," urged Mr. Perry by way +of response to his son's extravagant assurance. "If the person you got +those messages from was your cousin, I don't believe the fellows who were +after him had reason to do him any serious harm. But you may be sure that +we will not leave a stone unturned in an effort to solve this--this--" + +"Mystery," suggested Cub mischievously grasping at the opportunity to +give his father a good-natured dig. + +"Call it what you wish," smiled Mr. Perry. "But under any name you may be +pleased to style this problem, we are going to go after it with some more +mathematics--" + +"And geography," interposed Cub. + +"Yes, and geography, and you boys know what success we have had with +mathematics and geography in this search of ours thus far. Now, +meanwhile, I'm going to make a new suggestion which I hope you boys will +look upon with favor. Let's establish a camp of our own right here on the +spot where the Canadian Crusoe had his camp." + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +Hal's Discovery + + +The boys were delighted with the suggestion of Mr. Perry that they +establish a camp on the island and needed no urging to begin work on the +project. With true outing instinct they had come prepared for just such +an emergency as this. They had brought with them a tent large enough for +four and a complete set of camp tools, including spade, shovel, axe, +pickaxe, hatchet, saw, hammer, and nails. + +Returning to the Catwhisker, they hauled all these supplies out on deck +preparatory to taking them ashore. + +"Let's make a better ascent up this steep bank before we carry these +things up," Mr. Perry proposed. "It's quite a climb, as it is, without a +load in our arms to hamper us." + +"Only one person can work at a time to any advantage," Bud suggested. + +"That's true," replied the director of the expedition. "But we can work +in rapid shifts and finish this job quickly. I'll take the first trick +and make things fly for about fifteen minutes, and then one of you can +take my place." + +With these words, he stripped off his coat, seized the pickaxe and shovel +and stepped over the side of the boat onto the landing ledge. Then he +began a vigorous attack on the steep incline between the ledge and the +land level above. + +The task consumed a little more than an hour of speed labor, and by that +time it was after one o'clock and each of the hillside stairway builders +had worked up a very healthy appetite. So they prepared and ate luncheon +on board the yacht, and then began the work of moving tent and other +supplies to the site selected for their camp. By the time this was done +and the tent pitched, it was 3 o'clock. + +"Now, what next?" asked Cub as he sat down on a camp chair after the last +guy rope had been drawn taut and fastened securely to its peg. "It seems +to me that it's about time for another pow-wow of the Catwhiskerites." + +"I agree with you, Bob," said his father, also unfolding a camp +chair and sitting down, followed by similar action on the part of +the other two boys. + +"Well, what's the question?" asked Bud. + +"I'll offer a question if somebody'll take the chair and preside," Hal +volunteered. + +"All right," Bud agreed. "You act as chairman, Mr. Perry." + +"I am elected by Bud, there being no opposition," announced the owner of +the Catwhisker. "Now, what is the question, Hal?" + +"I'll put it this way," the latter replied: "Resolved, that mathematics +is more useful to a detective than a flashlight or a skeleton key." + +"That isn't half-bad at all," declared Cub in the midst of general +laughter and applause. "The main trouble is that we can't find anybody on +this island to take the other side of the question." + +"Very well," ruled the chair; "this question being decided in favor of +the affirmative, we will now proceed to the next." + +"Which is as follows," Bud announced; "to-wit, why have we established +our camp on this island, how long are we going to remain here, and what +shall we do while here?" + +"Now, we're getting down to business," said Cub. "But that's a composite +question. First, why are we here?" + +"We're here because we're here," Hal replied solemnly. + +"The chair is willing to accept that as a good and valid reason provided +other collateral questions are answered satisfactorily," Mr. Perry +announced. + +"Next question, how long are we going to stay here?" Cub continued. + +"I should say we will stay here until we find a reason for moving on to +the next place," said Bud. + +"Another excellent answer and fully supporting answer number one," Mr. +Perry announced. "Now, for an answer to question number three--What shall +we do while here?" + +"I'll answer that," said Cub; "well fish, cook, eat, sleep, explore and +keep our eyes peeled." + +"Peeled for what?" asked Hal. + +"More mathematical evidence." + +"Good!" exclaimed Bud. "We mustn't lose sight of the purpose of this +expedition. If our radio Crusoe is really Hal's cousin, we're bound by +the ties of friendship to stick to our task till it's finished." + +"Very well," said the chair. "Having settled the question of general +policy, let's get down to some more detail. What shall we do next?" + +"Complete our exploration of the islands," said Cub. "There's no telling +what we may find." + +"Now, you're beginning to look at things the way your father does," put +in Hal shrewdly. + +"How's that?" Cub inquired. + +"Why you're willing to look for a trail. I'm not saying you were any +worse than Bud and I were before we got started on this hunt. We just +stumbled on a trail to begin with, but when we lost it we didn't know +what to do next until your father told us it was up to us to scout around +and find it again." + +"Yes, that's right," Cub admitted. "We scouted around in the air and +found the trail that brought us here." + +"Moral: Whenever at a loss, do some broadcasting," suggested Mr. Perry. + +"Right," declared Bud; "Now the thing for us to do is some physical +broadcasting on this island." + +"In other words, we'll all go in different directions and examine every +square foot of this island," Cub inferred. + +"Exactly," assented Mr. Perry. "It ought not to take very long. There are +only about five acres here, although the place is pretty well covered +with bushes and trees." + +Without further ado they separated toward different points of the +compass. It was indeed a random exploration, well characterized as +something of a "broadcast," but the task was well executed by all. They +had no definite expectation in view, and hence they had to content +themselves with examining every physical feature as a naturalist or a +topographer, perchance, would look for the feature demands of his +specialty, and in about half an hour reconvened in front of their tent. +Hal was the only person present with a look of excitement or eagerness on +his face, and consequently the general interest of the others was +directed toward him. + +"You've found something, I know, Hal," Bud declared. "You came running +through the bushes as if you were chased by a catamount or else you had +something on your mind that threatened to burst your cranium." + +"I didn't meet a catamount," replied the boy to whom these remarks were +addressed; "but I did find something that excited me very much. I've +learned two important things." + +"What are they?" Cub demanded. + +"I've learned the name of this island and made sure of the name of the +person we came here to find." + +"You don't say!" Cub exclaimed. "I don't see how the name of this island +can mean anything to us, but we should be very glad to know who the +fellow is that we came here to find." + +"Well, the name of this island is important, or at least interesting," +Hal returned; "and I am going to give you that first. It is Friday Island +and was given that name by the Robinson Crusoe who was marooned here +because he landed here last Friday. Now, I'll tell you the other +important item. The fellow who was marooned with a wireless outfit was no +other person than my cousin as I suspected. And I have learned why he was +marooned here." + +"Why?" demanded Hal's three companions in chorus. + +"Because he was a college freshman and some of the upper classmen had it +in for him and they simply strong-armed him, captured him, and brought +him here to haze him." + +Every one of Hal's three companions gasped with astonishment. The +possibilities of such an explanation of this strange "radio-island +affair" had never occurred to one of them. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +"Robinson Crusoe's" Diary + + +"How in the world did you find that out?" + +"Who told you all o' that?" + +"Where is your cousin now?" + +These questions and others of like character were fired at Hal in rapid +succession, indicating the eagerness of all the members of his audience +for more light on the subject. As for Hal, he was moved by conflicting +emotions, which puzzled his friends considerably at first. He did not +burst forth with a storm of replies, a thing that he might well have done +consistently with boy nature. He seemed to be meditating how to begin, as +if there was so much on his mind he did not know what to say first. + +In reality, although this confusion of ideas probably had something to do +with his momentary silence following the storm of questions rained at +him, Hal was much elated with the good fortune that had thrown some +remarkable information into his possession; still, he was deeply +concerned over the possible fate of his cousin. It was the latter +concern, no doubt, that tempered and held in check his jubilation over +his discovery. + +"I think, Mr. Perry, you will admit now that there is such a thing as a +mystery," he said. + +"Why?" inquired the individual at whom this remark was directed. + +"No, I am merely very curious," replied Mr. Perry, with a smile. + +"Oh, hurry up, Hal, and tell us what this means," urged Cub impatiently. +"What's the use o' keepin' us guessing all this time. Bud and I'll +admit we're mystified." + +"Yes," grinned Mr. Perry; "you'd better hurry up and enlighten us, or +I'll have to drag the secret out of you with mathematics." + +"Addition or subtraction," asked Hal. + +"Extraction," replied "the man who couldn't be mystified" with +significant emphasis on the "ex". + +Laughter followed this quip, the levity of which caused Hal to feel more +like "loosening up". + +"Well," said the latter, producing a small leather-back notebook from one +of his pockets; "here is the secret of my information." + +"Where did you get that?" Cub demanded. + +"I found it." + +"Where--not here?" + +"Yes, on this island. It's a diary of my cousin, beginning with the time +he was left here by a bunch of college hazers." + +"Does it give any hint where he is now, Hal?" inquired Mr. Perry. + +"I don't think so," replied the boy with the notebook. "I ran my eye +through it hurriedly, but didn't have time to read it all. If you'll sit +down and listen, I'll read it to you from the beginning." + +All being agreeable to this proposition, they seated themselves on camp +chairs in front of the tent and Hal began as follows: + +"First, I'll begin by telling you where I found this book. I'll take you +back to the spot after I've finished reading. Before I found this book, I +discovered a sign, or notice, written on a piece of paper and pinned to +the trunk of a tree about four feet from the ground. On that paper was +written with lead pencil these words under date of last Friday: + +"'I Alvin Baker, a student at Edwards College, hereby name this island +Friday island, because I was marooned here alone, like Robinson Crusoe, +on Friday, June 9, 1922.'" + +"I'd like to make the acquaintance of that boy," said Mr. Perry warmly. +"He has both imagination and a sense of humor in the midst of adversity." + +"Naturally I began to look about me for some trace of the person who had +pinned the notice on the tree," Hal continued. "I was standing in an open +space about thirty feet in diameter. The tree on which this notice was +pinned is at the edge of that space. There are a few small bushes here +and there in the open, but the ground there is covered with long coarse +grass. The first thing that attracted my attention, as I began to look +about me was the fact that the grass was trampled down over a +considerable area. I examined it carefully and while doing so found this +notebook in the grass. It didn't take me long after that to reach the +conclusion that Cousin Alvin had been attacked by somebody and in the +struggle lost this notebook out of his pocket." + +"It was probably the four ugly looking men he said were coming ashore +when he sent his last distress message to us," Cub inferred. + +"I wonder why he didn't tell us the truth," Bud put in. "Why didn't he +tell us he was being hazed by some college boys?" + +"He explains that in his diary," Hal replied. "Now listen and I'll read +the first entry." + +Hal's injunction being met with quiet, eager attention, he read as +follows: + +"Friday, June 9, 1922. Last night while I was walking through the grove +of trees near the campus of Edwards College, I was attacked and +overpowered by several sophomores, who slipped a bag over my head and +carried me to a motor-boat moored a short distance away. They tried to +conceal their identity, but I recognized the voices of Jerry Kerry and +Buck Hardmaster. They kept me a helpless prisoner, with arms and legs +bound and eyes bandaged, in the cabin for several hours, during which I +could feel the boat constantly on the move. About 3 o'clock in the +morning I was carried ashore on this island. My hands were untied, and +then I could hear my captors hurrying away. I removed the bandage from my +eyes and with my pocket-knife cut the rope around my ankles. It was too +dark yet to see anything distinctly, so I had to wait for break of day +before doing anything. An hour later I discovered near the landing place +a considerable layout of supplies and equipment most of which I +recognized as my own property. Then I recalled that one of my captors had +thrust something into one of my pockets just before they took me ashore +and I put my hand into that pocket and drew out an envelope that I knew I +had not put there. In the envelope I found a typewritten note, which read +as follows: + +"'Alvin Baker, you have succeeded during all of your freshman year to +date in frustrating every attempt to haze you and have boasted that there +was no "gang" of boys at Edwards smart enough to do the trick. We are now +performing the trick in a manner that ought to convince you that such a +boast is the freshest of freshman folly. We raided your room and took +therefrom your radio sending and receiving outfit, and have added thereto +necessary equipment for erecting an aerial. This we leave with you in +order that you may summon help through the atmosphere. Meanwhile, you may +comfort yourself with the distinction of being the first college freshman +ever given a radio hazing. Now, put up your aerial and send out a message +for help. Radio is your only hope. Nobody ever stops at this island and +it is impossible for passing vessels to see any signal of distress you +may devise. If you are too proud to admit defeat and refuse to send out a +broadcast for help, you must remain here two weeks, at the end of which +time you will be captured again after dark, bound and blindfolded, and +taken back to the mainland and released. The identity of the persons +responsible for your defeat you will never be able to discover. Enough +canned food has been left with you to keep body and soul together a week. +At the end of that time, if you have failed to effect your own rescue by +radio, more canned food will be left here for you. We are leaving also a +tent, a few camp utensils, matches, and fishing tackle. You must drink +river water. Now prove yourself as big as your boast.' + +"I decided to defeat those fellows, if possible, by getting away from the +island without broadcasting an admission that I had been marooned by +sophomore hazers. So I pitched the tent and then constructed an aerial +out of material supplied by them and began to broadcast messages of +distress, saying that I had been marooned by river thieves who had stolen +my boat. But soon I found that there was someone 'in the air' who was +determined to defeat this purpose. It is now 11 p.m., and he seems to +have been successful in his attempts to make it appear that I am a faker. +Nobody has offered to come to my rescue." + +Saturday's entry in the diary opened as follows: + +"Last night, between 2 and 3 a.m., I was awakened by a slight noise +outside near the tent. I stole cautiously to the entrance and peered +out. It was a bright moonlight night and in front of the tent I saw two +men apparently examining the camp with much curiosity or evil intent, +perhaps both. Evidently they saw me watching them, for they suddenly +turned and fled. I followed them cautiously and saw them get into a +power boat and motor away. I called to them, explaining my situation and +offering to pay them if they would take me away from the island, but +they gave me no answer. Probably they were river thieves and the boat +they had was stolen." + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +More Light and More Mystery + + +The next two days, Saturday and Sunday, were devoted by the island +prisoner to the sending out of further calls, for help, and these calls +were met by a campaign of ridicule, similar to that begun by his nemesis +on the first day of his imprisonment, according to the diary read by Hal +to his companions. A few listeners-in indicated a willingness to come to +his rescue, in spite of the plausible ridicule from anonymous source, but +when asked where he was imprisoned, ignorance on that subject frustrated +all good intentions along that line until his S O S reached Cub at the +latter's home on the following Monday. + +"I tried to make this mysterious enemy of mine identify himself," wrote +the diarist under Saturday date; "but he professed to have a wager posted +against me which bound us both to secrecy. This caught me in the solar +plexus of my conscience, for I was broadcasting my appeals for help under +a false identity. Two or three amateurs looked me up under the name, +call, and address that I gave and then broadcast a denunciation of me. It +begins to look as if my hazers are going to win a full revenge for the +way I laughed at them at college. This day's experience has convinced me +that I am in bad throughout the radio atmosphere. It begins to look as if +I am up against it and will have to stay here the full two weeks to which +those hazing kidnappers of mine sentenced one. I wonder if they will make +the term longer because I resorted to the method I have pursued thus far +in order to avoid admitting that I had been hazed. Well, I have this +consolation, anyway, that they have to pay for my food as long as I am +here. They had to furnish me a tent also." + +"Caught half a dozen fish today and named this place Friday island +because of the day, or night, I was brought here and my subsequent +Robinson Crusoe experiences," began the entry for Monday. + +Then followed a gleeful memorandum of his apparent success in interesting +Cub Perry with an account of his predicament, in spite of the efforts of +his radio nemesis to prove him a trifler with the truth. Tuesday's entry +closed with a notation of the announcement from Cub that the Catwhisker +was about to start on a rescue trip from Oswego to the Lake of the +Thousand Islands and would endeavor to find him by radio compass. + +"The situation is cleared up very much," Mr. Perry remarked after Hal had +finished reading the diary. "The chief problem now remaining to be solved +is, what became of your cousin?" + +"In other words, that's the mystery before us," said Bud, with a twinkle +of fun in his eyes. + +"Call it what you will," smiled Mr. Perry. "But it doesn't strike me as +in the least mysterious. Evidently he was taken away from this island by +the fellows who put him here." + +"And what did they do with him?" was the query with which Cub +supplemented his father's observation. + +"That, of course, we don't know," the latter replied. "They may have +taken him over to the Canadian shore and released him for reasons of +their own." + +"Then it's up to us to find out," Cub inferred. + +"Surely. We've had remarkable success thus far. It would be a pity for us +to meet with failure. That would spoil our story." + +"Story!" exclaimed Bud. "What story?" + +"Our story--the one we've been enacting thus far. Look back over our +experiences in the last two days and see if you can make anything but a +very fascinating yarn out of them." + +"It's a radio-college story, isn't it?" Hal suggested. + +"Yes," Mr. Perry agreed; "that would be one good way to put it." + +"If it didn't involve my cousin in a critical situation, I'd hope the +story wouldn't end yet," said Hal. "I'd like to see it run thirty or +forty chapters." + +"How many chapters do you figure it would make thus far?" asked the +director-general of the expedition with a look of keen interest. + +"Oh, about ten or fifteen," Hal replied. + +"Then, to suit your taste, it ought to be only about half finished." + +"Yes, but for my cousin's sake, I wish it were finished right now and +Alvin were safe with us or at home." + +"But wishes won't produce results nor cut off chapters," Cub +philosophised. + +"No, the denouement will work itself out along natural lines under +natural laws," Mr. Perry predicted. + +"I don't think this story is going to amount to anything as a yarn," Cub +announced with a look of superior wisdom. + +"Why not?" asked his father. + +"Because there's no villain in it. I never did like a story with a tame +ending, and the worst kind of a story on earth is one that starts with a +thrill and ends with a nap in a sunparlor." + +Laughter greeted this grotesque contrast. + +"I don't think you need expect any such up-shot in this affair," Mr. +Perry advised. + +"Do you expect a villain to show his hand?" Bud inquired. + +"It seems to me that we have some villains in the plot already." + +"Who are they?" asked Hal. + +"How about those sophomores who kidnapped your cousin and marooned +him here?" + +"Oh, they're only play villains," Cub put in disdainfully. + +"How do you know they wouldn't do something worse than haze freshmen?" + +"I don't; but until they do they're just play villains, and that doesn't +interest me." + +"I see," Mr. Perry observed; "you want people to be either very good or +very bad." + +"No," Cub returned slowly. "I wouldn't put it that way; I don't want +anybody to be bad at all; but the fact of the matter is there are lots of +good people in the world and a good many bad." + +"And to make a good story you think it is necessary to bring good people +and bad people together, eh?" + +"Well, that's what makes fireworks, isn't it?" + +"Oh, ho, I get you now," said Mr. Perry. "You're fond of +spectacular things." + +"No, I wouldn't put it that way," Cub replied; "but I don't like to see +anybody make a bluff at anything and not make good. Now, we've started +out with a glorious bluff at some very clever rascality, and it looks as +if it's going to prove to be just an ordinary hazing affair." + +"It looks to me like a very extraordinary affair, whether it was hazing +or not," returned his father. + +"And you think we'll find a villain if we investigate it to the end?" + +"Why, sure," Mr. Perry smiled. "I shouldn't be surprised if we'd find +Captain Kidd's treasure buried on this island." + +"Now you're joking," Bud put in. + +"What kind of mathematics would you use to locate that treasure?" Hal +inquired with a kind of jovial challenge. + +"Cube root," was the reply. + +"That means dig at the roots of a four-cornered tree and you'll find a +box of pieces of eight shaped like a gambler's dice," Cub inferred. + +"That's pretty good imagination, and, I think ought to put us in a frame +of mind well suited for further investigation," said Mr. Perry. "Now +let's go to the spot where Hal found that diary of his cousin and see if +we can't discover something more of significant interest." + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +The Hook-Up on Shore + + +Arrived at the open area where Hal had found his cousin's "Crusoe diary", +the three boys and Mr. Perry began a careful examination of the +surroundings for further evidence that might throw light on the strange +affair, which, for the time at least, appeared to defy the mystery +scoffer's "mathematics". + +First they scrutinized every foot of ground where the grass had been +trampled so violently, it seemed, as to suggest a physical combat. But +they were not sufficiently skilled in the arts and subtleties of the +aborigines to work out the "code" of footprints and twists, tears, and +breaks in the grass, twigs and foliage. So the result of the inspection +of an apparently recent battle ground was nil. + +"I believe we've exhausted every possibility of a clew to the mystery in +this spot," declared Cub at the end of half an hour's search. "Let's not +waste any more time here." + +"What'll we do next, then?" asked Bud. + +"Go fishin'" Cub replied. + +"I think that's a good suggestion," said Mr. Perry. "We've concentrated +our minds and efforts on this problem all day thus far, and a little +relaxation probably will do us good." + +"Where's the best place to fish?" Hal inquired. + +"I think I know," Bud replied. "I found a place where we can climb down +the bank to a dandy little beach while I was looking over my section of +the island. A little spur of land runs out at that point, so as to form a +small bay, and the water there is quiet and looks deep." + +They returned to the camp and got their fishing tackle and soon were +casting baited hooks into the bay. Bud's prediction as to the hopeful +appearance of this place, from an angler's point of view, proved well +founded. In less than an hour they caught more fish than they could eat +at supper and breakfast. + +After supper they formed a campfire circle in front of the tent--without +a fire, however, for the normal heat of the atmosphere was all that +comfort could demand--and held a further discussion of the situation and +the problem with which they were confronted. + +"I don't know, boys, but we ought to make a trip somewhere in the +Catwhisker and get police help to solve this problem," Mr. Perry remarked +with a reflection of years and judgment in his countenance. "Hal's cousin +may be in serious trouble, for all we know, and it's our duty to enlist +every agency at our command to aid him." + +"But while we're gone something might develop here that would throw light +on the mystery," said Bud. "Excuse me, Mr. Perry, for insisting on +calling it a mystery. I can't think of it as anything else." + +"Oh, goodness me!" returned the one thus addressed. "I'm afraid you boys +failed to get what I was driving at. I didn't mean there was no such +thing as mystery. That depends on your point of view. It is only people +who are easily startled or confused by unusual things who are easily +mystified. I don't mean to say that it would be impossible to mystify me +under any circumstances. For instance, if the man in the moon should +suddenly jump down on the earth and give me a brick of green cheese, and +then jump back again before I could say 'thank you' I presume I'd be +greatly mystified." + +"Your illustration won't stand a test of reason, dad," Cub objected. "To +test whether it is possible for you to be mystified you must offer a test +that is possible." + +"That's precisely why I offered that impossible illustration," Mr. Perry +smiled. "I wanted to see if any of you boys would catch the +inconsistency. You just call this affair a mystery as long as you think +it is one, but after it is cleared up, I fancy you'll have difficulty in +looking back and picturing it as a mystery in your minds. But I didn't +intend to take us off our subject. I was going to answer Bud's argument +that something of importance might develop while we were gone. Yes, that +is true, but it wouldn't be necessary for all of us to go. Two of us +might make the trip and the other two remain here." + +"That's a good idea," declared Hal. "Suppose you and Cub go and leave Bud +and me here to look after the camp and watch for developments?" + +Mr. Perry did not reply at once. Something new seemed to have slipped +into his mind and appeared to be giving him some concern. + +"On second thought," he said after a few moments of silence; "I'm +inclined to withdraw my suggestion." + +"What's up now, dad?" Cub inquired. + +"I was just recalling a portion of Hal's cousin's diary," his father +replied. "According to that, it seems that rough characters visit this +place sometimes." + +"Oh, we're not afraid," Hal protested. "Besides, you could make the trip +there and back in a few hours." + +"Well, we'll think it over and decide in the morning what we'll do," said +Mr. Perry. + +"Meanwhile, I tell you what we ought to do," Bud proposed. "It's an hour +before dark and we'd have time to bring Hal's wireless outfit up here and +hook it up before the sun sets." + +"That's a peach of an idea," declared Cub, jumping to his feet in his +eagerness. "I've got two hundred and fifty feet of extra wire and some +insulators on the boat and we can put up an aerial here without taking +down the one on the Catwhisker. Then we can shift the radio outfit back +and forth to the island and to the boat as we please." + +"Good!" exclaimed Hal. "I'm with you on that. Let's get busy and not +waste a minute of daylight." + +They worked rapidly, and as they were well supplied with material and +tools the progress made by them measured up to expectations. They +fashioned a two-wire antenna with the spreaders left on the island by +Hal's cousin; connected a lead-in to this, and then Cub and Bud climbed +the two trees and, with the aid of ropes tied around their waists and the +guiding assistance of their companions below, drew the "ether-wave +feeler" up to a lofty elevation and fastened it as nearly taut as they +could stretch and hold it. In this work they took due consideration of +the professional objection to tree entanglements in aerials so that the +insulators were well beyond the reach of the longest limbs. + +"It's a simple matter now to bring the outfit ashore and hook it up with +the aerial," said Hal. "Let's do it." + +Enthused by the novelty of their enterprise, they continued the work, +even though dusk was rapidly gathering. Several electric-battery +flash-lights were produced, so that the twilight did not seriously hinder +them. By the time the stars had become a billion glittering gems in the +sky, the hook-up had been completed with Hal's sending and receiving set +on a table that had been transported from the yacht to a convenient +position directly under the aerial and near the opening of the tent. + +"Now, let's see what's going on in the air," said Cub. "Hal, you take the +first whirl through the atmosphere." + +Hal sat down by the table and put a pair of phones to his ears. Then he +began to tune. First there came to him a discordant confusion of static +and other noises, including an admixture of "ham impudence". + +"W H Q's on," announced Hal presently, pushing over the horn switch, +whereupon the clear tones of a quartet from the Rochester station was +thrown with amplified resonance out upon the reamplifying atmosphere of a +land-and-water wilderness. + +They "sat through" the program with a degree of enjoyment never before +experienced by them under a radio spell. They could almost imagine +themselves on an enchanted isle with a band of fairy songsters teasing +harmonious echoes out of their surroundings. + +"My! I didn't suppose such weird beauty of sound could be produced under +any possible conditions," exclaimed Mr. Perry at the close of the last +number on the program. + +"Now the air will be free for all for a short time," said Hal, putting on +the phones and throwing back the horn switch, while the other boys also +donned their phones. "I'm going to see if I can get any of those fellows +we talked with on the way up here." + +"Get that amateur with the radio compass who proved Mr. Perry's +mathematical theory," suggested Bud. + +"All right I remember his call and wave length; so here goes." + +Hal tuned for several moments and sent the call of the Canadian amateur +in question. Then suddenly he gave a little gasp of surprise. Only Mr. +Perry felt a curiosity as to what it meant, for the other two boys knew +as soon did the boy at the transmitting key. Someone was calling them and +the call he gave as his own was the Canadian V A X. Then came the +following message: + +"Have you not given it up yet, boys? I did not mean to carry the joke so +far. Better go back home." + +Mr. Perry was waiting patiently for an explanation of the tense interest +manifest in the attitudes of the three boys. Presently Cub gave it to +him, thus: + +"We're on the trail again, dad. This fellow we've got is posing as Hal's +cousin and he's advising us to go back home." + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + +Running Down a Radio Fake + + +"You say you are V A X?" dot-and-dashed Hal to the amateur who had thus +represented himself. + +"Yes," was the reply. + +"What is your name?" + +"Alvin Baker." + +"Where do you live?" + +"At Port Hope." + +"Where are you now?" + +"On the river with some friends." + +"Have you any relatives in the United States?" + +"Yes." + +"Where do they live?" + +"In New York." + +"New York City?" + +"No--State." + +"What city?" + +"I have forgotten." + +"Is it Rochester?" + +"I do not know." + +"Is it Oswego?" + +"I am not certain." + +"Have you a cousin named Hal?" + +"Yes." + +"What is his last name?" + +"Baker." + +"Have you any relatives named Stone?" + +"I think so." + +"Is the name Hal Stone familiar to you?" + +"Never met the gentleman." + +"Then your name is not Alvin Baker?" + +"Maybe you know my name better than I do." + +"No, but I know just as well as you do that you are not Alvin Baker." + +"How do you know that?" + +"Because Alvin Baker is my cousin. I am Hal Stone, and I live in Oswego, +New York." + +"I do not believe you. You are an impostor." + +"Let me tell you a secret. I have penetrated your plot. You are an enemy +of my cousin. There was no wager between him and you, but you don't want +us to find him. You had better keep out of the atmosphere or I will have +you arrested on a charge of disorderly conduct in the air." + +No answer. + +"V A X, V A X, V A X," called Hal. + +Still no reply. + +"I cornered him, proved he was an impostor, and now he won't talk to me +any more," said Hal, addressing his companions. Then he translated the +code conversation, just completed, for the benefit of Mr. Perry. + +"Well, that disposes of him for the time being, at least," was the +latter's comment. + +"But leaves a mystery as to his identity," put in Bud with a +"mystery smile". + +"No, I don't think there's any question as to his identity." + +"Have you worked it out by mathematics, dad?" Cub inquired. + +"Yes, by sines and cosines." + +"What are sines and cosines?" asked Hal. + +"You'll find out when you go to college and study trigonometry," Mr. +Perry replied. + +"Oh, I've seen those words," Cub answered, with some of his alleged +characteristic "highbrow eagerness". "You spell sine, s-i-n-e, and +cosine, c-o-s-i-n-e." + +"Exactly," smiled Mr. Perry. "Those are terms used in higher mathematics. +But, in order that you youthful minds may not work too hard over my +trick, I'll admit that in my mind I spelled sine s-i-g-n, and cosine, +c-o-s-i-g-n." + +"No use to try to get ahead of my father," Cub declared, shaking his +head. "He could prove that water runs uphill by mathematics. He means the +signs and cosigns indicate that--. What do they indicate, dad? We got off +the question just because you wanted to carry your point with a pun." + +"I meant to say that this fellow whom you cornered and chased out of the +air is one of the fellows who hazed Hal's cousin by marooning him on this +island," Mr. Perry answered. + +"Gee! that never occurred to me," exclaimed Cub, swinging his long arm +with a snap of his finger like the crack of a whip. "I bet anything +you're right." + +"We get one step nearer every time we make a move," said Bud eagerly. + +"Yes, but the question is, how many steps do we have to take before we +settle this--this--mystery?" Cub demanded. + +"Don't look ahead so far," Mr. Perry warned. "Here's a rule in such +matters that applies to all men--and boys--of small or large capability. +Be careful never to look ahead so far you can't see the step you are in +the act of taking." + +"All right," Cub assented. "What is the next step for us to take?" + +"Find out who the fellows are that hazed Hal's cousin." Bud replied. + +"Yes, that's a good suggestion, though it'll probably require several +steps to gain that information. Still, you're not looking so far ahead, +when you propose that move, as to be unable to see your first step." + +"Why not try to get in touch with some amateur in Cousin Alvin's home +town by wireless?" Hal suggested. + +"That's the very thing I was in hope one of you would propose," Mr. Perry +replied. "You boys haven't by any means exhausted the possibilities of +your radio outfit." + +"We have no Canadian call book," said Hal, "but perhaps I can induce one +of the amateurs we've been talking with to look up the call of one or +more amateurs in Port Hope and give them to me." + +Without more ado, he swung the switch into sending position and began to +call the amateur who had given them the information that had enabled them +to locate Friday Island. Success rewarded his efforts almost immediately. +The curiosity of the Rockport amateur, however, had to be satisfied +before further service could be had from him. This Hal did with due +patience and speed, reciting their experiences since their arrival at the +island. Meanwhile the Canadian consulted his call book, and was ready +with the desired information by the time his very excusable curiosity had +been satisfied. He supplied Hal with two Port Hope calls, together with +their wave lengths. + +Then began the task of getting into communication with the Port Hope +amateurs. Hal sent the call of each of them a score or more of times, but +got no answer from either. At last, however, another Port Hope amateur, +who chanced to be listening in, answered for them. He informed Hal that +the sending outfit of one of these Port Hope boys was out of working +order and the other amateur was out of town. Then the operator on Friday +Island put the following questions to him: + +"Do you know Alvin Baker?" + +"Yes," was the reply. + +"Is he at home?" Hal continued. + +"I think not. He is at college." + +"I am his cousin, Hal Stone, from Oswego, New York. I am with some +friends on an island in the St. Lawrence River. I have learned that Alvin +is in trouble. He was hazed by some sophomores, who left him alone on an +island in the river. We found the island, but Alvin had been spirited +away and is probably being held prisoner by them. This hazing gang seems +to consist of some pretty rough characters. I want to get in touch with +my uncle, Alvin's father." + +"I will call your uncle on the telephone and tell him what you say," the +Port Hope amateur dot-and-dashed in reply. + +"Ask him to come over to your house, and tell him I will explain +everything to him through you, and then perhaps he can form a plan for +his son's rescue." + +These and subsequent proceedings, in furtherance of the plan outlined +"over the wireless" by Hal, took considerable time, but at last the +situation was made clear to Mr. Baker, who announced his intention to +start on a search for his son at once. Meanwhile Bud and Cub listened-in +eagerly and translated the code messages for Mr. Perry. + +"I tell you what we'll do," the latter said after the communication of +events had been completed for the benefit of Mr. Baker. "Tell him to take +a train to some river port, the nearest possible to this island, and +we'll meet him with the motor boat." + +Hal did as requested, and presently Mr. Baker caused this message +to be sent: + +"I will meet you at Rockport about noon to-morrow." + +"Step number one proved to be well worth while," observed Mr. Perry. "Now +let's go to bed and in the morning we'll take step number two." + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + +Bud's Discovery + + +Next morning the day's program was discussed at the breakfast table, the +latter being a light collapsible affair carried as an item of equipment +of the Catwhisker. Hal introduced the subject by saying: + +"Mr. Perry, don't you think two of us ought to stay here while the other +two of us make the trip to bring Uncle John over here?" + +"What's the use?" Mr. Perry returned. "Nobody's going to run away with +the island." + +"No, but we've established a camp here, pitched a tent, and brought +ashore a lot of camp material and supplies. If we all go we'll have to +strike the tent and take all these things back on the boat." + +"Well, I don't know that it makes any particular difference to me," the +owner of the yacht replied. "It'll be broad daylight and we'll be gone +only a few hours. It isn't at all likely that anything will happen during +that time." + +"I'll stay here with Hal, if he wants to stay," Bud volunteered. + +"That would be about the only way to arrange it," said Mr. Perry. "I +don't like to have any of you boys make the trip without my being along, +and as Cub knows the engine of the Catwhisker better than any other +member of our party, I think I'd better take him with me." + +"That's the best arrangement," said Hal. "And while you're gone, Bud and +I'll play Robinson Crusoe and Friday." + +"Who'll be Crusoe and who'll be Friday?" Cub inquired. + +"Oh, we won't quarrel about that," Bud replied. "Hal may have his choice +and I'll take what's left." + +"This plan will simplify matters, to say the least," Mr. Perry announced. +"About all we'll have to do when we decide to start is start." + +"You don't need to wash any dishes before you go," said Bud. +"Friday'll do that." + +"There you go already," laughed Mr. Perry. "I predict a revolution on +this island before we return." + +"No, nothing of the kind," Bud returned. "I was assuming that the lot of +Friday would fall to me. In other words, I volunteer to wash the dishes." + +"I think you'll both have to be Fridays," Cub advised. "The real Crusoe +of this place has disappeared and we don't want anybody usurping his +honors in his absence. It is our duty to find him, reinstate him here, +and then rescue him." + +"And make prisoners of the buccaneers who marooned him," suggested +Mr. Perry. + +"Yes, and make them walk the plank," added Bud. + +"We're not exactly right in calling Hal's cousin a Robinson Crusoe, are +we?" asked Cub reflectively. "You know Crusoe wasn't marooned; he was +shipwrecked on his island." + +"Yes, but Crusoe was just a hero in fiction, you know," Mr. Perry +replied. "Alexander Selkirk, the real Crusoe, was marooned on an island +in the south Pacific." + +"Too bad he didn't have a wireless outfit," said Hal. + +"Well, boys, my portion of the breakfast is stowed away, and I must +remind you that the moments are fleeting rapidly," announced the director +of the expedition presently. "Cub, are you ready to start?" + +"All ready," the latter replied, rising from his chair and turning the +"finish" of a cup of coffee down his throat. + +"I would suggest that you boys try to raise some amateur over in Rockport +and probably you can stir up some local interest there in this affair," +Mr. Perry suggested. "I'm always in favor of all the publicity that can +be had in cases of rascality, and this looks to me like something more +than a mere hazing." + +"Why, dad, I haven't heard you say anything like that before," said +Cub, with a curiously inquiring look at his father. "What do you +mean by that?" + +"I don't know," was the reply. "Maybe it's our remarks about Crusoe, +buccaneers, marooning, and walking the plank that worked on my mind and +set me to thinking about outlaws. I've just got a feeling that this +affair isn't going to be explained along any play lines." + +"But Hal's cousin didn't have any suspicion that it was anything more +than a hazing affair, according to his diary," Cub reminded. + +"I'm not so sure about that, either. You know he explained his +distress messages by saying that he had been marooned by some river +thieves or bandits." + +"But he said in his diary he didn't want to tell the truth," said Hal. + +"True, but he may have had a suspicion, nevertheless, that he felt was +not tangible enough to incorporate in his diary. However, that will all +be explained in due time, let us hope. Now, let's hurry. Good-bye, Hal, +Bud. We'll be back as soon as possible." + +A few minutes later that Catwhisker was backing out of the narrow harbor +with Cub and his father aboard and Bud and Hal on shore watching their +departure. Presently the yacht was out of sight from their hemmed-in +position, the view being obstructed by trees and tall bushes on an +intervening isle, which constituted a link of the insular chain that +surrounded Friday Island. + +"Now, let's wash the dishes," said Bud, turning back toward the camp. + +"I thought Friday was going to do that work," Hal reminded with a broad +grin on his face. + +"Wasn't it ordered that both of us should be Fridays?" Bud +demanded smartly. + +"You win," laughed Hal. "But here's a better way to handle the subject in +view of another duty before us. You know we're supposed to try to get in +touch with somebody by radio at Rockport and we haven't much time to +spare before the Catwhisker arrives there. You get busy on the job and +I'll take care of the dishes." + +"Not on your lightning switch," returned Bud emphatically. "I volunteered +to be Friday, and I'm not going to slip out of my promise through your +generosity. You get busy with the key and the phones and I'll get busy +with the dishrag." + +As no reasonable argument could be adduced to defeat this proposition, +the two boys were soon busy as prescribed by the last speaker. Bud's task +required only about fifteen minutes, and after it was finished he +rejoined his companion at the radio table. + +"Well, what luck?" he inquired. + +"Nothing doing," Hal replied. "I've managed to get the calls and waves of +two amateurs at Rockport, but neither of them answers." + +"Keep it up anyway," Bud urged, "and I'll take a tackle and go over to +the place where we took in our haul of fish yesterday, and see what I can +do this morning. Call me if you get anything interesting." + +Hal promised to do as requested and then Bud hurried away. The former +continued his efforts unsuccessfully with the sending key for nearly +half an hour, hearing no sound from his friend in the meantime. Then he +was about to take the receivers from his ears and go in search of the +fisher-boy to find out what success he had had, when the latter appeared +on the scene with a look in his face that startled the youth at the +radio table. + +"What's the matter, Bud?" Hal inquired, as he literally tore the phones +from his ears. "Has anything happened?" + +"Not exactly," the other replied. "But I've made a discovery that +may mean trouble for us. At least, we'll have to be on the lookout +from now on." + +"Why--what do you mean? Hurry up; don't keep me in suspense. What kind of +discovery have you made?" + +"I've discovered that we're not the only persons on this island," was +Bud's chilling response. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + +Unwelcome Visitors + + +"Why, Bud, what do you mean?" Hal demanded, in astonishment. "Who else is +on this island?" + +"Some men. I don't know how many," Bud replied in cautious tone. "I heard +them talking about us. But keep your voice low, for this island is small +and they may hear you." + +"I was going to remark that this is a small island to contain much of a +hiding place for anybody." + +"Yes, but it's wild with bushes. And these men are bad fellows, I could +tell from the way they talked about us. They're as mad as hops 'cause +we're here. They're studying how to get rid of us without making more +trouble for themselves." + +"That's funny," Hal remarked. "Why should they care if we're here? Do +they claim they own this island?" + +"I don't know whether they do or not. I didn't hear them say anything +about that." + +"Where are they now?" + +"Over near our fishing place, if they haven't left. They were hidden in +some bushes, and I might 'ave run right into them if it hadn't been for +their voices. After I heard them I kept myself under cover and crept +closer till I could get what they said." + +"Were you listening to them all the time you were gone?" + +"Just about." + +"And didn't you find out anything more specific than what you've told +me?" + +"No, I don't think I did." + +"Why did you leave them?" + +"They seemed to 've talked the subject dry and turned to other matters, +and I thought I'd better come and tell you about it." + +"And they're there yet?" + +"So far as I know." + +"After they'd talked their subject dry, what did they find to discuss?" +asked Hal. + +"Something wet," Bud answered with a grin. + +"I get you; you mean they had some moonshine with them." + +"Or some Canadian whisky." + +"Probably that. But this makes the situation look a little better for us. +If they're just a bunch of fellows out for a liquor outing, maybe we +don't need to be much concerned about them if we keep shy of them." + +"I don't think that's all there is to it," Bud replied, with a note of +warning in his voice. "I heard one of them say we were likely to make +trouble for them and we ought to be chased away and scared so badly we'd +never come around here again, and the others seemed to agree with him." + +"That sounds like a mystery," said Hal. + +"I don't believe Mr. Perry would talk mathematics to explain such +conversation," Bud declared. + +"If he did, he'd probably make another pun about sines and cosines. But, +say, don't you think we'd better make further investigation?" + +"I don't know what we could do unless we did some more eavesdropping, +and that might cause them to get ugly if they caught us in the act," +Bud reasoned. + +"Yes," Hal agreed; "I suppose we'd better wait as quietly as we can till +Mr. Perry and Cub get back; then we can decide better what to do." + +"I don't see that there's anything for us to do but get away from here as +soon as possible," said Bud. "Mr. Perry won't want to get into trouble +with four men." + +"He'll probably have a talk with them to find out what's on their minds," +was Hal's conclusion. + +"And then get out rather than have a fight," Bud added. + +"Oh, I hope there won't be anything as bad as that." + +"Why not, if we insist on staying? If these fellows are the rough +characters we suspect them of being, that's the very sort of thing +they'd resort to, provided, of course, that they thought they could get +the best of us." + +"Here they come now!" suddenly gasped Hal, indicating, with his gaze, the +direction from which "they" were approaching. + +Bud turned quickly and saw four men emerge from the thicket some fifteen +feet to the rear of the tent. They did not look like rowdies, for they +were fairly well dressed, but there was nothing reassuring in the +countenance of any of them. One was tall and angular, another was heavy +and of medium height, another was very broad-shouldered and deep-chested +and had long arms and short legs, a sort of powerful monstrosity, he +seemed, and the fourth was fairly well proportioned, but small. There was +not a reassuring cast of countenance among them. + +"We'll just have to stand our ground and hear what they have to say," Hal +whispered: "Maybe they'll be reasonable if we don't provoke them. Be +careful and don't say anything sassy." + +"I won't," was the other's reassurance. + +The four men approached to a point a few feet from the radio table and +halted, and the tall angular man, assuming the role of spokesman, +demanded in deep tones: + +"What're you kids doin' here?" + +"We're just waiting for some of our friends to come back," Hal replied. + +"Where'd your friends go?" continued the spokesman with a leer that +caused the two boys to shrink back a step or two. + +"They just took a trip in the motor boat," replied Hal cautiously. +"They'll be back soon." + +"Oh, they will, eh," leered the man as if he penetrated the weakness of +the warning in the boy's answer. "How many are they of your friends?" + +"More than we are," replied Hal, having reference to physical size of Mr. +Perry and Cub. + +"Oh, come now, kids, tell us the truth," ordered the leering spokesman, +advancing a pace nearer. "Tell us how many went away in your boat and how +soon they'll be back." + +"There was a large man and a big boy," Bud interposed with more assurance +that he felt. + +Sly grins crept over the countenances of the four men. + +"Oh," grunted the spokesman; "you hope by that kind o' talk to scare us +away. Well, nothin' doing along that line. This here island belongs to +us, and we don't allow no trespassin." + +"Is the island for sale?" inquired Hal, who thought he saw an opening +through which he might work up the interest of the three men without +arousing their antagonism. + +"Fer sale?" repeated the spokesman of the quartet, all four of whom +seemed to exchange among themselves a round of sinister glances. "Well, I +guess nit. They ain't enough money this side o' the United States +treasury to buy this island from us." + +"We might be able to scrape up a handsome sum, if necessary," Hal +reasoned. + +A suggestion of covetous greed shone in the eyes of all four men, but the +spokesman belied his own looks by saying: + +"Nothin' doing. We want you guys to git out o' here. This is our summer +resort, eh, Spike"--turning to the long-armed, deep chested man. + +"Spike" nodded grimly and replied: + +"You bet it is, cap'n. We're gen'lemen of leisure an' don't care fer +money. All we want is our own, and they's sure to be trouble if anybody +tries to take it away from us." + +"Well, we don't want anything that doesn't belong to us," was Bud's +reassuring answer; "and if this island is yours, we surely don't want to +stay here. But we thought that maybe you'd be glad to sell, for a member +of our party said he'd like to buy all of the islands of this group if he +could find the owner." + +"Who is he?" asked the quartet's spokesman. + +"His name is Perry and he lives at Oswego, New York," Bud replied. + +"Well, you all go somewheres else to talk that matter over and then take +it up with my real estate agent. Meanwhile I don't allow no trespassers +on this ground." + +"But we can't go until our friends come back with their boat," said Hal. +"They promised to return soon." + +"Where did they go?" + +"To the Canadian Coast." + +"What fer?" + +"To get another friend who will join us." + +"Well, they'd better hurry up or they won't find you when they get back." + +"What's that you got there?" asked the man who had been addressed as +"Spike", indicating the radio table and outfit thereon. + +"That's a wireless outfit, you goof," replied the tall, angular +spokesman. + +"I tell you what we'll do," Hal announced, taking inspiration from the +attention thus called to his radio apparatus. "We'll call our friends by +wireless and have them return at once and take us away. How's that?" + +"All right," was the assenting response. "Go ahead, but be careful, no +tricks, or our revenge will be speedy, and that's no name fer it." + +With this warning the four men walked away and Hall got busy with a +diligence inspired by a sense of danger and, at the same time, a sense of +the opportunity afforded by the possibilities of the world's latest great +invention, radio. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +"S O S" from Friday Island + + +Max Handy, the Canadian youth at Rockport, who gave the crew of the +Catwhisker, by wireless, directions whereby the latter were able to +locate "mathematically" the whereabouts of the "Canadian Crusoe's Friday +Island" listened in much of the time thereafter, in the hope of being +able to keep in touch with developments to the end of this interesting +radio affair. + +And this hope was realized in a degree that could hardly have been +expected with moderation. But he was well equipped, and, being +mechanically inclined, and industrious, he was able to get a maximum of +results with his sending and receiving outfit. + +He had traced the rescue yacht all the way from Oswego to Friday Island, +and the last message he had picked up from the three young radio +Americans was the one that completed the agreement under which the yacht +was to proceed to Rockport next day and meet the father of the "missing +Crusoe". Then he attempted to get in communication with the island +operator, but Mr. Perry had just announced that the next number on the +program would be "everybody to bed at once", and there was no more +listening-in before the next morning. + +Max stayed up late that night, with phones to his ears, eager to get +another message from the island, and he was a very much disappointed +enthusiast when at last he gave up his efforts, convinced that they were +useless. He slept late next morning and consequently lost an opportunity +to respond to Hal's first call to enlist the aid of the Rockport amateurs +in the campaign to rescue the missing "Crusoe". + +But at last he caught a message from the island, and the conversation, +translated from code, that took place between him and Hal, following a +few introductory inconsequentials, was as follows: + +"I listened-in last night and heard your arrangements for today," the +Canadian dot-and-dashed. "When are you coming to Rockport?" + +"Two of us are on the way," Hal replied. "They ought to be there by +this time." + +"Is there anything I can do to help you?" + +"Yes. Can you go to the dock and ask them to hurry back? There are four +ugly acting men here on the island, who have ordered us off. They +threatened to make trouble for us if we do not go soon." + +"Don't your friends know those men are there?" + +"No; we discovered them after the boat left." + +"All right, I will run down to the dock and tell them." + +Max literally kept his promise relative to his manner of travel. He ran +all the way to the dock, half a mile. The Catwhisker was there, tied fast +with cables, but nobody was on board. + +"They've gone to the depot," he concluded; then he turned his steps +toward the railroad station. + +He ran and walked alternately, with a dozen changes of speed, and arrived +just as the train from the west was pulling in. He had no difficulty in +identifying Mr. Perry and Cub when they introduced themselves to Mr. +Baker, as the latter stepped from a coach, and a moment later he was +addressing the owner of the Catwhisker thus: + +"Is this Mr. Perry of Oswego, New York?" + +The latter turned quickly and beheld a youth about the age of his own +son, but of considerably shorter stature. + +"It is," he replied somewhat apprehensively, in view of recent stirring +events and the logical probability of more of the same sort. + +"Well, I have something important to tell you," Max continued. "I'm the +boy who gave you the radio compass information that made it possible for +you to find Friday Island." + +"Gee! I'm glad to meet you," exclaimed Cub, seizing the Canadian youth by +the hand and forgetting, in his eagerness, the announcement from the +"radio compass detective" that he had "something important" to +communicate. + +But the latter, although equally pleased to meet the young amateur from +the States, was on his guard against a delay of this sort and soon broke +through the effusion of cordiality with which Cub greeted him and +continued his communication thus: + +"I was just telegraphing with one of the boys on the island, and he told +me to tell you to hurry back. There are four men on the island who +ordered them away and threatened to make trouble for them if they didn't +get away soon." + +"What's that!" exclaimed Mr. Perry, seizing the youth by the arms. "You +say you got that kind of message from those boys?" + +"Sure I did," the boy replied; "and they want you to hurry back." + +"What kind of men are they--rough characters, bad men?" + +"That's what I understood him to mean." + +"Come on, Mr. Baker, Bob; we must hustle along. Thank you, my boy; you'll +hear from me again." + +"I'll hurry back and tell the boys I found you and you're on your way," +shouted Max as he ran down the street toward home. + +Mr. Perry led the way toward the dock at a rapid pace. Presently they +found themselves in front of a hardware store, and the owner of the +Catwhisker stopped and said: + +"I'm going in here a minute." + +He entered, and Mr. Baker and Cub followed, wondering a little as to the +motive of the boy's father. But they were not long left in doubt. + +"Have you any fire-arms on sale here?" Mr. Perry asked, addressing the +proprietor. + +"Small or large?" the latter inquired. + +"Small." + +"Right this way." + +He stepped behind a show case in which was a display of automatics and +revolvers. Mr. Perry selected one of the former and a box of cartridges +and took out his pocketbook to pay for them. + +"I believe I'll take one, too," interposed Mr. Baker, also +producing a purse. + +The storekeeper looked somewhat curiously at the two men. + +"I'm supposed to exercise care and judgment in selling these weapons," he +remarked slowly. + +"Of course, of course," returned Mr. Perry. "The situation is this: We +belong to a yacht on the river and have run up against some bad +characters. I am the owner of the yacht and have decided that we need +protection." + +"Sure, sure, that's perfectly satisfactory," said the hardware man. "You +can buy out my whole arsenal on that explanation." + +"We won't need it," Mr. Perry smiled. "These two guns are enough." + +The purchase completed, the two men and the boy left the store and +hastened on toward the municipal docks. + +Meanwhile Max arrived at his home and went direct to his radio room. +There the first thing he did was to don his phones, and the result was +instantly startling. + +He had left the instrument tuned to the Friday Island wave length and the +aerial switch in receiving position. + +"S O S, S O S, S O S," crashed into his ears in rapid, energetic, excited +succession, it seemed to his susceptible imagination. + +Quickly he threw over the switch, and called for an explanation. It came +as follows: + +"Those men have seized my friend, and now are coming after me. S O S, S +O--" + +That was all--not another dot or dash. Desperately Max appealed for +further details, but it was like calling for life in a cemetery. The +ether was dead, so far as Friday Island was concerned. + + + + +CHAPTER XX + +Four Prisoners + + +When the Catwhisker arrived at Friday Island again, the place appeared to +be deserted. + +The camp was as they had left it, except that the breakfast dishes were +washed and put away. "Friday" had performed his duty, but both boys had +disappeared, and there seemed to be only one explanation of their +disappearance, namely, the premonition of danger at the hands of the four +strange men that the Rockport amateur, Max, had received from the boys on +the island. No damage had been done to the tent or any of the camp +paraphernalia, even the radio outfit being exactly as it had been when +they left it in charge of Hal and Bud a few hours previously. + +"This is getting pretty serious," Mr. Perry said, after they had made an +unsatisfactory review of the situation. "I confess I don't know what to +make of it." + +Cub felt an impulse to brand this new affair as the most puzzling mystery +that had yet confronted them, but he checked the utterance wisely enough +as entirely too facetious for the occasion. + +"We've got to get the authorities busy on this case," Mr. Perry added +after a few moments' hesitation. "We may be sure now that it's more than +a hazing affair. There must be a retreat of some bad men around here +somewhere." + +"What authorities shall we ask to help us?" Cub inquired. + +His father seemed about to answer, but he hesitated a moment or two, with +a puzzled look, first at his son, then at Mr. Baker. + +"That's so," he said presently. "Where are we--in Canada or the +United States?" + +"I think we ought to apply for help in both New York and Ontario," said +Mr. Baker, who was ordinarily a man of quiet demeanor, but now was worked +up to a state of nervous worry over the fate of his son. + +"It's going to take some time to make trips to both sides of the river +and get the authorities of New York and Ontario busy," said Mr. Perry; +"but I suppose that's the only thing to do, and every minute wasted is an +opportunity lost. So let's go right away." + +"Hold on, father," Cub interrupted; "you forget that we have a means of +calling help right here." + +"It won't do to depend on your radio messages" his father replied. "You +know the experience Mr. Baker's son had trying to get help that way." + +"Yes, but there were conditions that queered his calls," Cub replied. +"Just remember the results we got by calling our new friend, Max, at +Rockport, and what he did for us. Unless I'm badly mistaken, we can look +for more help from him." + +"Yes, you're right, Bob," Mr. Perry admitted. "But I don't like the idea +of staying here and depending on a few boys to take care of so big a +proposition. We need to arouse the whole country around here, including +all people along the shores, on the islands and those boating up and down +the river." + +"In other words, there must be some real broadcasting," Cub interpreted. + +"You bet you, and more than any amateur radio station in the country can +do. Now, we've wasted too much time already. Come on; we've got to get +started without any more delay." + +"But let me stay and see what I can do while you're gone," Cub pleaded. +"I bet I can have a police boat headed this way before you reach the +mainland." + +"No, nothing doing," his father ruled unwaveringly. "You'd disappear just +the way the other boys did. We can't afford to run any more such risks." + +"I'd be safe enough if you let me have that automatic o' yours, dad," +Cub argued, + +"No, sir-ree; I'm not going to leave you here alone to fight any gun +battle with a band of bandits." + +But the boy was still undismayed by his father's resoluteness. He had one +more proposal to offer, and he presented it thus: + +"You don't need to leave me here alone, dad. Mr. Baker may stay; you can +run the Catwhisker alone." + +Both men had started toward the landing place, expecting the boy to +follow, but they stopped suddenly and faced about on hearing this new +proposition. Mr. Baker looked almost eagerly at Mr. Perry, it seemed, +and, observing that the latter's unyielding attitude had softened +somewhat, he said: + +"That's agreeable to me if it is to you." + +"Well," returned Mr. Perry with slow deliberation, "that sounds pretty +good. If it suits you both, it suits me. I don't think you'll have to use +the guns, even if any bad actors do happen around. If you show them, +that'll probably be enough. Do you know how to handle an automatic, Bob?" + +"Sure I do," the latter replied. "All you have to do is keep the nose +pointed away from you and toward the target you want to hit. To shoot, +you just keep pulling the trigger, and when it's empty you're safe from +accident until you fill the chamber again." + +"That's a simple statement of facts," Mr. Perry smiled; "but you left out +the most important of all, and until you tell me what that is, I'm not +going to let you have it." + +"Oh, I know what it is; you've told it to me lots of times," Cub replied +with eager alertness. "You know, dad, I always remembered what you told +me, and I didn't forget that advice of yours about fire-arms. It is, +'always handle an unloaded gun as if you know it's loaded.' I promise +you, dad, I'll not forget it this time." + +"I guess it's safe to let you have it," said Mr. Perry, handing over the +weapon. "All right, now that everything's settled, I'll be gone and you +two see what you can do through the air." + +That ended the discussion, and a few minutes later the owner of the +Catwhisker was putting all the speed he could put into the power boat +toward the Canadian shore, while Cub devoted all his energy and skill to +the task of summoning as much aid as possible by wireless, Mr. Baker +standing by and waiting eagerly for results. + +And results were not long coming. The yacht was scarcely out of sight +beyond the outer rim of islands, when Cub recognized the call of Max +Handy, the Canadian amateur at Rockport. He acknowledged the call, and +then telegraphed the following: + +"I am the boy whom you met at the depot a few hours ago. When we got +back, we found the two boys we left here were gone." + +"I knew something had happened," Max replied. "After I left you I got +their S O S. Then one of them telegraphed that some men had seized his +friend and were coming after him. His last message was broken off in the +midst of a new S O S. I couldn't get him again, I called up the police +and they said they would see it got to the proper authorities for +investigation." + +Cub translated this message for the benefit of Mr. Baker and was about to +continue the telegraphic conversation when four men, armed with clubs, +and with anything but friendly demeanor, appeared on the scene. Mr. Baker +saw them first and sounded the alarm. + +"Here they come," he said in low tone, the accents of which caused Cub +to start to his feet and reach for his father's pistol which he had laid +on the radio table. "Be careful," the man continued. "Don't shoot unless +I do. Maybe we can get some information from those fellows. Put your gun +in your pocket and don't draw it unless they attack us or you see me +draw mine." + +The movement of Cub, transferring the automatic from the table to the +right pocket of his coat, did not escape the notice of the visitors, who +appeared to have come from the wooded depths of the island. But evidently +their uncertain vision left their minds in a condition of doubt as to the +significance of the act, for they continued to advance, however, with +some appearance of caution. + +"I'll go forward a few steps to meet them," said Mr. Baker, in a low +voice to Cub. "You stay back here and be careful with your gun. Don't use +it unless you see me use mine; then keep your head. I think we'll be able +to handle this situation without any violence." + +He advanced half a dozen paces, then stopped and addressed the unwelcome +visitors, who were now distant from him only about fifteen feet. + +"Halt where you are, gentlemen," he said. "We are armed, and any further +advance on your part will be met with the use of our weapons." + +The "gentlemen" stopped with due consideration for the warning, but with +scowls that indicated the poor grace of their obedience. A description of +them would mark them as the ones who are heretofore recorded as having +made an unfriendly call on Hal and Bud at the island camp earlier in the +day. The tall, angular man again was spokesman for them. + +"What're you fellers doin' on our island?" he demanded, with a deepening +of his scowl. + +"I didn't know the island belonged to you," Mr. Baker returned quietly. +"You don't happen to carry a deed to it in your pocket, do you?" + +"No, but it's ours, or it belongs to one of us," the angry spokesman +replied. "And we don't intend to allow any trespassing." + +"We have no desire to do any trespassing," was the response to this +veiled threat. "But I want to answer you with a clear statement of our +position. We are here with a purpose and we don't intend to be turned +aside from that purpose. To get down to brass tacks, three boys, one of +them my son, have disappeared under remarkable circumstances from this +island, and the indications point directly toward you men as responsible +for their disappearance. What your motive is I have no idea, but you may +be sure that it will be fathomed, and now that we have you in our power, +we don't intend to let you get away from us. We are armed with automatic +pistols that shoot like machine guns and one move either toward or from +us, contrary to order, will start them barking. Now, my instruction to +you is that you drop those clubs and come forward, one at a time, and +allow my companion to search you for weapons." + +As he spoke, Mr. Baker drew his pistol from one of his trouser pockets, +and Cub did likewise. Instantly the scowls disappeared from the faces of +the four men and were succeeded by looks suggestive of panic. + +"There's no need of any such action by you," said the leader of the +invaders with plaintive whine. "We ain't done nothin' out o' the way. We +did drive those kids off o' the island, but we didn't hurt 'em. They're +all right, and we c'n take you to 'em any time you want to go." + +"How could you drive them off of here when they had no boat to go in?" +Mr. Baker demanded. + +"Oh, we took 'em in our boat and put 'em on another island. If you'll +agree to go away from here we'll produce those boys and land you anywhere +you want to go." + +"Why is it you're so anxious to have us go?" demanded Mr. Baker. "Is +there something going on here that you don't want the authorities to know +anything about?" + +This shot seemed to throw confusion into the ranks of the visitors, +judging from the expressions of their countenances. But their spokesman +attempted to brush the inference aside as of no consequence to them by +answering: + +"That's foolish. If you think there's anything bad going on here, just +bring on the police and investigate; but we don't intend to have anybody +on these islands who hasn't any right here." + +"Very well, we'll make a test of the question of rights so there won't be +any dispute about it hereafter," said Mr. Baker. "Robert, will you call +your friend at Rockport and tell him to send some officers here for four +prisoners, but keep your weather eye on these fellows meanwhile and your +pistol beside you ready for instant use." + +Cub did as directed and soon was dot-and-dashing a thrilling message to +Max Handy, who had been waiting apprehensively all this time for an +explanation of the island operator's protracted silence. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI + +The Hostage + + +Meanwhile the four prisoners held a furtive conference among themselves, +and after Cub had finished his telegraphic conversation with the Canadian +amateur, the leader of the worthy quartet addressed Mr. Baker as follows: + +"Looky here, Mister man, we've decided that we're not going to stay here +any longer. You ain't got nothin' on us, and you haven't got any reason +to hold us up with those guns. We haven't done nothin' criminal, and we +don't intend to be held for crim'nals. We'll tell you where your kids are +and ev'rything'll be all right if you keep off o' our islands. We own +all these islands here, and we're not goin' to 'low no trespassin'." + +"The main trouble with your proposition is that we have no way of +knowing whether you're telling the truth," answered Mr. Baker. "Can you +tell us where the boys are and then prove that they're there before we +let you go?" + +"We c'n tell you where they are and you must take our word fer it," was +the fellow's reply. "They're over on the first island in that direction, +pointing to the southwest. You can't miss it. It's an island about the +same size as this one, all by itself. You'll find 'em there if somebody +hasn't taken 'em off." + +"No, that won't do," replied Mr. Baker. "We can't afford to let you go." + +"All right, then, let me tell you something more," said the spokesman of +the strange quartet, whose self-confidence and courage seemed to be on +the increase. "Do you see that stake there?"--indicating the visible end +of a piece of wood similar to a guy-rope stake, that had been driven into +the ground at a point midway between the two hostile conferees. + +"I see it very plainly," Mr. Baker replied. + +"Do you know what it means?" + +"I must confess my ignorance." + +"Well, I have a surprise for you. There are other stakes driven about a +hundred feet apart clear across this island east and west. That is the +dividing line between the United States and Canada. You are a Canadian, +ain't you?" + +"I am." + +"Well, that line there means that you are now in Canada and we are in +the United States. If you come over here to take us you are invading +the United States. If you shoot at us, you are shooting across the +border line at citizens of the United States. I defy you to commit any +such act." + +Mr. Baker was "almost taken off his feet" by the shrewdness of this +argument, and for several moments he was unable to make any intelligent +reply. Cub also was nonplused at the "international situation". However, +the ludicrous element of the affair did not escape them, and presently +Mr. Baker was hurling the following heated rejoinder at the spokesman of +the unfriendly four: + +"Now, see here, my fine fellow, I'm not going to listen to this nonsense +any longer. My son has been kidnapped by you scoundrels, and I am a +desperate man right now. I am in a mood at this moment to snap my fingers +at international lines, if what you say is the truth. I don't care to +dispute your word on so flimsy a subject. But here is the only compromise +I am willing to make with you. One of you has got to stay here a prisoner +until those boys are returned to us. I'm in dead earnest, believe me. If +you try to escape, I'll shoot, and if necessary, I'll shoot to kill. Now +you come right over here into Canada as quick as ever you know how, for +if you don't, in a very few seconds I'm going to begin to shoot. I'm a +good shot and my bullets will hit your feet first. Your companions may go +and as soon as they bring back those three missing boys you may go, too. +Now, come along into Canada. Hurry up, I'm going to count ten, and if +you're still over there in the United States contaminating the soil and +atmosphere of Uncle Sam with your impudence after I've stopped counting, +I'm going to begin to shoot. If I have to bring you over into Canada, +you'll come on a stretcher--see? Now I'll begin to count--one, two, +three, four, five, six, seven, eight--" + +The brave spokesman of the unwelcome visitors collapsed at Number 8 and +shuffled rapidly toward the counter with the automatic pistol. His three +companions, inspired, no doubt, with an eagerness commensurate with his +panic, broke into a run and soon disappeared in the thicket at the rear +of the camp. + +"You'd better call after your friends and remind them that it's up to +them to bring those boys back or your fate hangs by a thread," Mr. +Baker advised as he proceeded to examine the fellow's pockets for +dangerous weapons. + +But the prisoner was either too sullen or too much frightened to respond +to any suggestion requiring the exercise of wits. He merely obeyed +clear-cut orders and turned a deaf ear to all other utterances on the +part of his captors. + +"We'd better secure him so that there'll be no chance of his getting +away," Cub suggested. "There are some pieces of guy-rope in the tent. +I'll get them and we'll fix him in a condition of safety." + +Accordingly he went into the tent and a moment later reappeared with two +pieces of rope, the strands of which he unplaited and knotted together, +end to end, and then tested the knots by straining them across his knee. + +"Now, we're ready," he said, addressing the prisoner. "Turn around and +put your hands together behind you. There, that's right. I'll try not to +be too cruel, but I must tie this rope pretty tight. Holler if it +tortures you, but I must be the judge as to whether you can stand it. +There, you won't be able to do any mischief with your hands. Now, come +on; well go into the tent and take care of your lower extremities, as you +know we couldn't afford to let you walk away. We have to hold you for +ransom, you know, and the ransom is three healthy, uninjured boys." + +The prisoner obeyed without a word, and a few moments later he was tied +on the ground in the tent with legs also securely bound. + +"Now, I'll proceed to report developments to our radio friend at +Rockport," Cub announced as he and Mr. Baker came out in the open again. + +With these words he sat down at the table, donned the phone headpiece and +began to work the key. He had no difficulty in getting into communication +with the Canadian amateur again, and gave him a detailed account of what +had taken place since his last report of earlier developments. + +"My father is on the way alone in the Catwhisker, bound for Rockport," +the boy added after finishing his account of the dispute with the +professed owners of the island. "Can you get word to him of what has +happened? Tell him to come back with a few armed men as soon as +possible." + +"I will run down to the docks and meet him," returned Max. "Maybe I will +come along." + +That ended their code conversation for the time being, and Max started at +a brisk pace for the municipal docks. + +Meanwhile, Mr. Baker and Cub kept an alert watch over their prisoner and +the camp in general to guard against a surprise, for they were not +unmindful of the danger of an attempt on the part of the three departed +visitors to overthrow the advantage the man and the boy had gained +through the instrumentality of two dangerous weapons. But soon they found +time dragging heavily on their hands, so that it is no wonder that before +long they began to cast about them for something to do that would add to +the small degree of hopefulness of their situation. + +"Let's bring that fellow out here and see what we can get out of him," +Cub proposed at last. "Maybe we can induce him to tell us something," + +"All right," Mr. Baker replied; "but we must not forget to keep a sharp +lookout while we're quizzing him." + +"You go in and bring him out, and I'll keep watch to prevent a surprise," +Cub proposed. + +This being agreeable to Mr. Baker, the plan was soon put into effect. The +rope strands around the prisoner's ankles were removed and he was led out +into the open. True to his resolve not to be caught napping, Cub now kept +on the move and on the alert, describing a small circle around the +position of the two men who were seated on camp chairs about twenty feet +from the tent. + +"I've brought you out here for a sociable chat," Mr. Baker explained, +while Cub gave close attention in order that he might not lose a word. "I +hope you'll be as sociable as I shall try to be, for if you're not, I +shall have to take you back into the tent and shackle your feet again." + +The fellow did not reply, although his silence could hardly be attributed +to a spirit of sullenness. + +"Maybe you'll tell me a little more than you were willing to tell me in +the presence of your friends," Mr. Baker continued. "I'd like to know +something about the business and associations of you and your friends, so +that we may know how to treat your demands. Now, rest assured that none +of us has any desire to do any illegal trespassing, and as soon as you've +proved to us that you own this island and that we are unwelcome on these +premises, we'll get off and beg your pardon for our intrusion. But you +don't seem to have established any camp here and you don't seem to be +able to produce as much evidence of ownership as we can." + +Mr. Baker now waited a few moments for a response to his introductory +statement, but none came. The fellow seemed to be almost embarrassed +by the straightforward and well connected ideas of the man who +addressed him. + +"Well, let's see," Mr. Baker continued. "How can I present the matter so +as to start you out right? Perhaps you will be willing to tell me who you +are and what your business is. But first. I'll be fair and introduce +myself. My Name is James C. Baker. I live in Port Hope, and my business +is that of hay, grain and feed merchant. Now, will you tell me your name? +One of your friends called you Captain. Do you run a boat on the river?" + +Whether the fellow was about to reply or would continue in stubborn +silence may not be known, for the thus-far-one-sided conversation +was suddenly interrupted by a shout of eager joy from the pacing +boy sentinel. + +"Oh, there they come, there they come," the latter shouted. "There are +Hal and Bud." + +Sure enough, two boys had just emerged from the narrow belt of bushes +between the camp area and the only practical landing place of the island. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII + +The "Crusoe Mystery" Deepens + + +"Now, where have you boys been? Did those men take you away? Where did +they take you? Did you escape? How did you escape?" + +This rapid-fire succession of questions was hurled by Cub at Hal and Bud +as they approached the place where Mr. Baker was quizzing his prisoner +under the protection of the boy sentinel against a surprise attack from +the prisoner's friends. Some of these questions were encouraged by nods +and smiles of assent to preceding interrogatories. + +"Yes, yes, but one question at a time," Hal replied. "You're on the +right track, Cub, but that isn't the way to get our story out of us. I +see you have one of the rascals a prisoner. Keep him. He's the worst of +the bunch." + +The "rascal" winced at the characterization. + +"Who are they, anyway," asked Cub. "What are they doing here? Do they own +this island?" + +"Now, you've added three more questions," Hal remarked with a smile, for +he was much pleased at the opportunity to tease the tall and usually +super-wise youth in something of the latter's characteristic manner. "We +can't answer all your questions, Cub, but we know there's a mystery about +this fellow and his friends, and I suppose we'll have to wait for your +father's mathematics to solve it." + +"Was it those four men who made prisoners of you?" inquired Cub, who, in +his eagerness to get some definite information, resolved to ask one +question at a time and pursue his inquiry in an orderly manner. + +"Yes," Hal replied. + +"They grabbed me first while I was down at the landing," put in Bud, who +was almost as impatient to tell the story as Cub was to hear it. "I went +down there when I saw a rowboat pulling up and didn't recognize the men +in it until they came ashore. I thought they were still on the island, +for when they left us a few hours before, they didn't go toward the +landing, and we didn't see them go toward it since then. I hollered when +they grabbed me, and Hal came rushing to see what was the matter." + +"Yes, and then I ran back to the radio table and telegraphed to Max Handy +at Rockport," added Hal, taking up the narrative at this point and +indicating a disposition to volunteer details more readily. "While I was +still in the act of sending, two of the them appeared and seized me. They +took me into their rowboat with Bud at the landing and rowed to a yacht +almost a duplicate of Mr. Perry's. We were confined in the cabin until +after dark and then put ashore on an island half a mile from here. That +was the last we saw of them." + +"But how did you get away?" asked Cub. + +"We flagged a motor boat just a little while ago. There were two men and +two boys in it. We told them our story and they volunteered to bring us +back here and see if you had returned. Hello, Uncle James," addressing +Mr. Baker and seizing the latter by the hand. "I didn't recognize you at +first, though I knew you were coming." + +"Where is Alvin?" asked Mr. Baker anxiously. "Didn't you see him on the +island over there?" + +"No," Hal replied with a look and tone of surprise. "That is another +desert island--not a person there." + +"What does that mean?" demanded Mr. Baker, turning to the prisoner. "You +told us all three of the boys that you took away from here were together +on that island over there." + +"I didn't mean that," the fellow snarled, with something of a look of +confusion, however. + +"Well, what did you mean?" + +"I meant they were on two islands not far apart; the other fellow is on +the island a little further on." + +"Is that motor boat that brought you here down at the landing yet?" Mr. +Baker inquired. + +"Yes," Bud replied. + +"I wonder if we couldn't induce them to make a run over to the island +where this fellow says he left my son and bring him here." + +"I think they'd be glad to do it," Bud replied. "They seemed to be +very much interested in this affair and offered to do anything they +could to help us." + +"All right; suppose you go down there and tell them the situation. I +suppose we could wait till Mr. Perry gets back, but I can't stand any +delay that isn't absolutely necessary." + +"Why, where has your father gone, Cub?" asked Hal. + +"He started out to get police help," answered the boy addressed. "His +first call was to be at Rockport, but no doubt he'll come right back here +when he gets the message I sent for him. I telegraphed to our wireless +friend, Max Handy, and asked him to go down to the docks and tell father +what happened since he left. He's on the way now; maybe he's talking to +father this minute." + +"What was it that happened?" Bud inquired. + +Cub gave a description of the visit of the four "owners" of Friday Island +and the dispute that resulted in making a prisoner of one of them and +sending the other three away on a mission of restitution. + +"I thought when I just saw you come up from the landing that they had +released you according to agreement," he added; "but on second thought, I +decided they couldn't have had time to do that; besides, when they left +us they went in the other direction." + +"No, they didn't have anything to do with it," Hal assured his friend. + +"You'd better tell the truth about where my son is," warned Mr. Baker, +addressing the prisoner. "I won't stand any more trifling from you." + +"He's there unless somebody took him off the island, same as these boys +were taken off the island we put them on," declared "the captain" in +sullen tone and manner. + +"Well, it'll be an unhappy circumstance for you if we don't find any +evidence of their having been there," Mr. Baker remarked. + +"I think we'd better take him along with us," said Hal. "Then there'll be +no doubt about our going to the right island. Come on, Bud; let's go down +to the boat and tell Mr. Leland and Mr. White what we want to do." + +Hal and Bud were soon out of sight on their way to perform the mission +they had imposed on themselves, and a few minutes later they returned +with one of the motor-boatmen, a clean-cut athletic man of middle age, +wearing a tan Palm Beach suit. Hal introduced him as Mr. White. + +"The boys have told us all about your trouble," he said, addressing Mr. +Baker; "and we'd like to do all we can to help you out. They tell me that +your son is believed to be on an island about a mile from here, and that +this prisoner of yours knows exactly where that island is. Well take him +along with us and make him make good." + +"I'm very much obliged to you," said Mr. Baker warmly. "I've promised +this fellow that if he returns my son to me, I'll let him go, so the +instant you find my son you may turn him loose." + +"I don't believe he ought to be turned loose," declared Mr. White +energetically. "I believe he ought to be made to pay the penalty of his +crime--kidnapping. However, we'll do as you say. Come along, my fine +fellow," he added, taking the prisoner by the arm. "We'll keep those +hands of yours securely tied behind your back, so you can't get into +mischief." + +With these words, he led "the captain" toward the landing, followed by +Hal and Bud. + +Half an hour later they returned, with the prisoner, his hands still +shackled with the rope strands. They had been unable to find Mr. +Baker's son on the island where the prisoner said he and his companions +had left him. + +Meanwhile Mr. Perry had returned in the Catwhisker to Friday Island. He +was accompanied by Max Handy and a Canadian government officer. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII + +"Sweating" the Prisoner + + +It was now supper time, but nobody except the Canadian officer was hungry +enough to think of eating. The latter, being a disinterested party, save +as one commissioned with the duty of enforcing the law, had not diverted +to a subject of absorbing interest the energies that ordinarily create a +human appetite, hence he was normally hungry. Moreover, he was a man of +good physical proportions and organic development, and consequently +hunger with him meant a good plateful, or dissatisfaction. + +This officer, who was introduced by Mr. Perry as Mr. Harrison Buckley, +seemed to take no interest in his mission until he saw the evening meal +in course of preparation in real kitchen-like manner; then he took the +prisoner in charge and proceeded to "sweat" him in the approved style of +a police captain's private office. The prisoner squirmed about for a +time, successfully evading the inquisitorial probe aimed at him, but at +last he "confessed" as to his name and address. He said that his name was +Grant Howard and that his residence was at Gananoque, Ontario. Then a +call to supper was issued and the composite aggregation of humans +gathered around the table, which was never intended to accommodate quite +so many guests. + +However, with the exercise of due ingenuity, the supper was properly +disposed of with the unexpected discovery of more appetite than was +originally expected. Max Handy proved to be a healthy eater and the +savory smell of juicy broiled steak from the Catwhisker's refrigerator, +loosened even the nervous tension of Mr. Baker's worry over the fate of +his son, so that he was able to do fair justice to the cooking of Cub, +Hal, and Bud, who had full and joint charge of the preparation of the +gastronomic spread. + +After the meal the four boys cleared the table and washed and wiped the +dishes, while the three men joined forces in the continued "sweating" of +the prisoner. The latter adhered stubbornly to his earlier "confession" +as to what he and his three companions had done with Mr. Baker's son, but +failed to make a satisfactory statement as to his own business and the +use to which he and his friends had put "their island possession". To the +question as to the character of his business, he replied, after some +hesitation: + +"I work in a store." + +"What kind of store?" asked Mr. Buckley. + +"A grocery store." + +"What do you do there?" + +"I clerk." + +"What was the price of butter the last day you worked?" asked the +inquisitor so quickly and sharply that the victim of the thrust actually +turned pale, in spite of a strong front of bravado. But he made a brave +enough effort to get over the hurdle. + +"Twenty-nine cents." + +"A pound?" asked Mr. Buckley. + +"Yes," replied the prisoner. + +"What did you sell butter at a loss for?" the inquisitor demanded. "It +hasn't been down that low anywhere that I know of since the war." + +"I meant butterine," "corrected" the "sweat subject" hurriedly. + +"Well, you've hit it about right, by accident, of course. Now, let's see +if you know anything more about grocery business. What did you sell eggs +and potatoes for the last day you worked?" + +"I didn't sell any." + +"All you sold was butter?" + +"Yes." + +"You mean butterine, don't you?" + +"No, I sold butter and butterine and a few other things." + +"And buttermilk and cheese," the officer amended. + +No answer. + +"How much did you charge for butter?" + +"Fifty cents a pound," the prisoner replied, desperately or doggedly, it +was difficult to determine which. + +"Do you know that butter is selling now for thirty-nine or forty +cents a pound?" + +"Then it's come down." + +"No, it hasn't. It's been around forty cents a pound for several months." + +The prisoner fixed his eyes on the ground and said nothing. + +"The trouble is, you haven't done your wife's grocery shopping, or you +could tell a more plausible string of lies," Mr. Buckley commented. "Now, +let me tell you this: It's been a long time since you saw the inside of a +grocery store." + +"If you don't want to believe me, it's up to you," snarled the prisoner. + +"Now, Mr. Howard," the inquisitor continued, "your friends, I am told, +addressed you as Captain. Why was that?" + +This query stimulated a little brilliance in the fellow. + +"I run a grocery boat on the river," he said. "I don't do much clerking, +but supply groceries to several stores from a wholesale house." + +"So that is your explanation for not being very familiar with retail +prices, is it?" Mr. Buckley inferred. + +"Yes." + +"Well," the Government "sweater" went on, "your story doesn't hang +together very well." + +"You don't want it to hang together," the prisoner snapped. "You're here +to make me out a liar. You don't want the truth. You haven't got no right +to keep me here." + +"He claimed the rights of a citizen of the United States and defied us to +interfere with him," interposed Mr. Baker, who, together with Mr. Perry, +had been listening eagerly to this quizzing process. + +"How's that?" Mr. Buckley demanded. + +"Why, Mr. Perry's son and I pulled guns on him and his three +companions, when they threatened us with clubs, and this fellow pointed +out what he said was the international boundary line between them and +us and defied us to cross over and capture them. I made my bull-dog +look at him squarely in the eye and hypnotized him over onto this side +of the boundary line between the United States and Canada and made a +prisoner of him." + +"Where is that international boundary line?" Mr. Buckley asked. + +"Right here," Mr. Baker replied, rising from his camp chair and walking +about fifteen feet to the stake that the prisoner had designated as +indicating the line beyond which any hostile advance must be regarded as +a foreign invasion. + +"Who put that stake there?" he inquired, shifting his penetrating glance +from one to another of the three men before him. + +"I don't know," replied Mr. Perry and Mr. Baker almost in one breath. + +The prisoner said nothing, and Mr. Baker spoke for him as follows: + +"If this fellow would answer, I presume the only statement he could make +is that it was put there by surveyors of the Canadian and United States +Governments." + +"Humph! Funny surveyor's stake, isn't it?" grunted the Canadian officer, +"Methinks we shan't go much farther to prove this fellow a fabricator of +fairy tales. So that's the international boundary line, is it?" he asked, +eyeing the prisoner keenly. + +"I was told it was; that's all I know about it," the latter +replied sullenly. + +"Well that was a lucky reply if you intend to persist in your policy of +evasion," Mr. Buckley declared. "I was about to denounce you as an +illustrious liar. The boundary line between the United States and Canada +along here, my dear sir, doesn't cut islands in two. If you will examine +a map or chart of the Lake of the Thousand Islands, you will see that the +boundary line winds like a snake, dodging the islands through its entire +course in this part of the St. Lawrence river." + +"It was foolish of me to swallow such a yarn as that," said Mr. Baker. +"But I called his bluff good and strong. However, I'm much relieved to +discover that my credulity was imposed upon; otherwise I might be accused +of trying to drag the United States and Canada into war." + +All of his auditors, except the prisoner, smiled at this remark. The +boys, who had just finished washing the dishes, joined the inquisition +group in time to hear Mr. Buckley's last statement and Mr. Baker's +"confession of folly." + +"I think we have got as much out of this man as we may hope to get at the +present time," the officer announced a moment later. "I think I had +better take him back with me and you had better come along, Mr. Baker, +and swear out a warrant charging him with kidnapping." + +"That's exactly what I'm going to do if my son is not returned to me +to-night or early in the morning," answered the man thus addressed. "I +suppose you have no objection to remaining here over night." + +"Oh, no; it'll be easier to take care of the prisoner here over night +than to work overtime, going back at night, and jail him. But we'll have +to keep careful watch over him to-night and see that he doesn't escape." + +"Maybe we'd better lock him up in one of the staterooms of the yacht," +Mr. Perry suggested. + +"Yes, and keep a good watch over him all night," Cub put in. "We want +to make sure those three friends of his don't come back after dark and +let 'im out" + +"I'll watch with Mr. Buckley," Mr. Baker volunteered. "We're both armed +and I don't think there's any chance of our being taken by surprise." + +"We'll watch in two-hour shifts," Mr. Buckley proposed. "In that way +we'll keep fresh and on the alert, so that there'll be less danger of +being taken by surprise." + +"Very well, that's agreed upon, if it's satisfactory to Mr. Perry," the +officer announced. + +Further attempts to get information out of the prisoner, bearing on the +whereabouts of the place of concealment of Mr. Baker's son, were +unavailing, and at last they separated into two parties for the night, +Mr. Buckley and Mr. Baker taking charge of the prisoner on board the +Catwhisker and Mr. Perry and the boys distributing the sleeping quarters +among themselves in the camp. + +But before the latter retired a new radio thrill was added to their +adventures. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV + +"Something Happens" + + +"Something's going to happen to-night," Bud remarked to his three boy +friends when the four found themselves alone after the departure of the +prisoner under guard. Mr. Perry had accompanied the officer and Mr. Baker +to the yacht to aid them in arranging comfortable quarters for the night. + +"What makes you think that?" Cub inquired, while he and Hal and Max all +gathered around the speaker, whose remark afforded stimulus in harmony +with the weird twilight shadows around them. + +"I bet I said only what you fellows were all thinking about when I +spoke," Bud ventured by way of indirect reply. + +"I felt it in my bones," Hal declared. "Bud didn't have any more reason +to think something is going to happen to-night than all of us have. If +something surprising doesn't happen, I shall be--" + +"--surprised," finished Max, whereupon there was a chorus of laughter. + +"Whatever happens, or doesn't happen, Hal is going to be surprised," Cub +concluded facetiously. + +"I think we all will be surprised," said Bud. + +"Surprise party," shouted Hal. + +"Bum surprise party without any girls," Cub added. + +"Well, anyway, I think we ought to keep watch here to guard against the +kind of surprise party we wouldn't like," Bud declared. + +"I agree with you there, old boy," Cub put in quickly. "Whether or not +anything happens, it would be jolly to have watches and relieve one +another the way they used to do out west among the Indians and outlaws +and road agents." + +"I bet they do it yet in some places out there," said Max. + +"Course they do," Cub concurred. "You can't tell me that the day of +outlaws is gone. Think of the automobile bandits we have now-a-days. +They'll be raiding with airplanes next." + +"No, I don't believe that," Hal objected. "They couldn't use an airplane +to any advantage. We won't have any more stage coach robbers or pirates +on the high seas, and I don't think there's any chance of much of that +sort of thing in the air, but there's a good chance for some bad doings +in the air in another way." + +"How's that?" asked Max. + +"We've all had some experience with it, and you ought to know what I +mean." + +"Oh, I know," declared Bud. "You mean radio." + +"Sure," replied Hal. "There are going to be a lot of con men at work in +the air or some way in connection with radio; you see if there are not." + +"They've been at work already," said Cub. "There's been a good deal in +the papers about the games they work. But I'd like to know the truth +about the fellow who tried to keep us from coming on this trip to find +Mr. Baker's son." + +"I bet he's somethin' more than a college sophomore," said Bud. "I +wouldn't be surprised if he's connected in some way with the fellows who +kidnapped our Thousand Island Crusoe." + +"A big radio plot, eh?" Hal inferred. + +"Maybe," Bud replied. + +"What for? What could they be up to? Pretty far fetched isn't it?" + +"Yes, maybe; but, you know, it's our business to think up every possible +solution and then find out which one fits the facts." + +"All right, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, but where's the sense in figuring +this as a big radio plot unless we can see a sensible answer to it?" +Hal demanded. + +"Yes, Bud, it's pretty far fetched," ruled the dominating Cub. "You'll +have to think up an answer to your conundrum before we can consider it. +Why should a college freshman be hazed in the manner that Mr. Baker's son +was hazed just so that some men, confederates of the hazers, could kidnap +him? And then why should one of the hazers work the kind of game that +that mysterious fellow worked to checkmate us in this rescue trip of ours +if the purpose was just to kidnap Mr. Baker's son, after all? The +sophomores had to kidnap him in the first place. Why go through all that +Robinson Crusoe nonsense if the end was to be just a plain kidnapping?" + +"Then you think there's no connection between the hazing and the +kidnapping," said Bud. + +"I don't see how there can be. There's nothing showed up yet that makes +it look reasonable." + +As Cub was making his last statement Mr. Perry returned to the camp. The +speculative subject of discussion was then dropped for others more +immediately practical. + +"What did you do with the prisoner?" Hal inquired. "Did you lock 'im up +in a stateroom?" + +"That's what we did, and I don't believe there's much chance of his +getting away with an armed guard constantly near his door," Mr. +Perry replied. + +"Are his hands and feet tied?" asked Cub, + +"No, we decided that wasn't necessary. There's no way he could open +the door without making a noise; so we thought we'd let him rest +easy, and perhaps he'd be in a better humor in the morning and more +willing to talk." + +"We've been talking the matter over and we're all afraid something's +going to happen to-night," said Hal. + +"What do you think is going to happen?" asked Mr. Perry. + +"We haven't any idea." + +"Some more mystery, eh?" smiled the leader of the expedition. "Well, that +isn't at all surprising, in view of the gloominess of our surroundings. +Suppose we have a light on the subject. Cub, bring out the flash-lights." + +The latter went into the tent and soon reappeared with four dry-battery +lights. These he laid on the table in fan-like arrangement, so that they +threw a flood of light in all directions. + +"I don't feel like going to bed yet," said Cub. "Let's stay up a +while and--" + +"--listen-in," finished Hal. + +"Yes, let's do," exclaimed Bud eagerly. + +"I wasn't thinking of that," Cub admitted; "but it's better than what I +had in mind. All right, Hal, tune 'er up. This is a peach of a night for +long distance receiving." + +Hal needed no second bidding and soon he was busy with coil and detector. +Cub's "weather report" proved to be accurate, for in a few moments he +announced: + +"Here's Schenectady, New York, with some opera." + +Over went the switch and with the move came a hornful of vocal +resonance. They listened eagerly to the end of the program and then +Hal began to tune about for "something else doing" in the ether. +Presently he "straightened up" in an attitude of close attention, and +his radio friends all realized that he had found something of more +than ordinary interest. + +"Here's a Watertown newspaper looking for information about us," he +announced excitedly after a few moments of tense listening. + +The other boys sprang forward with exclamations of wonder, Bud and Cub +donning the other two phone head-pieces. + +"Shall I give him the information?" Hal asked a few moments later, +turning to Mr. Perry. + +"Whom is he talking to?" the latter inquired. + +"Some Canadian amateur who's been listening in to us a good deal of +the time." + +"I don't see why you shouldn't tell him everything, Mr. Perry. He's a +reporter, isn't he?" + +"Yes, I think he has his own private set and he's looking for a +big scoop." + +"Give it to him, by all means," Mr. Perry directed heartily. "Now the +whole country will be aroused over this affair." + +Hal managed to attract the attention of the reporter, although he did not +know his call, and pretty soon the ether was alive with a torrent of +thrills for the ambitious representative of the Fourth Estate. For half +an hour the "radio interview" continued, during which many names and +addresses were given and dramatic details were recited in the most +approved manner of exciting spontaneity. At last, however, the close came +with an announcement from the reporter that he was going to get a motor +boat, make a dash to Friday Island, and "scoop the world". Hal gave him a +careful description of the location of the island and assured the +reporter that they probably would remain there a day or two longer. + +"Now, we'd all better go to bed," Mr. Perry announced after Hal had +tapped goodnight to the Watertown scribe. + +"We ought to arrange some watches first," Bud urged, unforgetful of his +prediction that something was going to happen before morning. + +"Why do you think something more is going to happen?" inquired Hal. +"You're a good forecaster, Bud, for your prediction has been fulfilled +already. Something did happen when I caught that reporter and gave him +our story." + +"I'll say so," Cub "slanged" wisely. "We'll all have to take our hats off +to you, tee-hee." + +"Hal hasn't tee-heed for twenty-four hours in my hearing," Mr. Perry said +reprovingly. + +"That's right, Cub," declared Bud. "A little while ago I heard him laugh +right down deep from his lungs." + +"Out-door exercise is working wonders for him," Cub opined with deductive +superiority. + +"Well, anyway," said Mr. Perry; "I agree with Bud that we ought to have +some watches to-night. I believe in taking warning from Bud's prediction. +There are five of us. Who wants the first watch?" + +Nobody answered. + +"I'll take the watch beginning about 1:30 o'clock," said Bud. "If +anything happens, it'll be between then and 2:30." + +"Brave boy!" commented Cub solemnly. "I'll take next-best place, +immediately following your watch." + +"Give me the one just before Bud's," said Hal. "There may be something +doing between now and then you know. If anybody invades the camp at 1:30 +o'clock sharp, I'll call Bud and go to bed and let him repel the +invaders." + +"What a methodical bunch of boys!" Mr. Perry exclaimed. + +"Due to the mathematical training we've had under you, dad," Cub +explained. + +"I'll take the first watch, if it suits everybody," Max announced. + +"Say, father, you ought to let us have your automatic while we're on +watch," Cub suggested. + +"Nothing doing," replied the cautious adult, shaking his head vigorously. +"I'd rather run the risk of being wiped out by a band of bandits than to +run the risk of your shooting one of us if we should happen to walk in +our sleep. If any of you boys see or hear anything suspicious, just call +me, and I'll do the shooting, if any is to be done. You may arm +yourselves with some good stout clubs if you wish to, however." + +And so it was thus arranged, and while Max took his post on a camp chair +in front of the tent, the other four sought rest on their cots under the +canvas shelter. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + +Bud Shoots + + +For nearly half an hour Bud had kept his eyes fixed almost continuously +on a certain spot in the dark shadow at the edge of the thicket directly +south of the tent, which faced west. His attention had been drawn to this +spot thirty or forty times after he relieved Max at 1:30 o'clock, and the +cause of his interest was a slight movement in the shadow, suggesting a +shifting of position by an animal of considerable size. + +The moon was up, but not high enough to shed much light in the open area +in which the tent was pitched. The sky was clear, and because of the deep +shadows in which this spot was merged, the heavens, to Bud's eyes, were +studded with myriads of gem-like brilliants. + +In the dim light thus afforded, the boy sentinel was able to make out +what appeared to be portions of the form of a man partly hidden in the +bushes, which grew at heights varying from three feet to six or seven +feet from the ground. Meanwhile he congratulated himself repeatedly for a +bit of very ordinary ingenuity he had resorted to in order to prepare +himself for any emergency of more or less menacing outlook. + +Soon after Mr. Perry announced his intention not to allow any of the boys +to have possession of his pistol while on guard, Bud's mind became busy +on plans for the contrivance of a substitute. In accord with Mr. Perry's +concession, each of the boys cut for himself a stout stick to be used as +a weapon of defense if necessary, and to supplement this Bud decided +first to gather a few dozen stones about the size of a hen's egg in order +that he might exercise his skill at throwing if any suspicious looking +objects should appear to his view. + +Then he happened to remember that he had a large rubber band in a small +and little-used pocket of his coat. He had put it there for no particular +reason, perhaps merely to save it. He had found it about three weeks +before and the unusual size and strength of elasticity of the band was +enough to interest any boy in the habit of seeing the adventurous +possibilities of little things. + +With the aid of his searchlight, Bud found a small forked limb in a tree +at the edge of the open area, immediately after he took charge of the +guard post, and cut it off. Then he returned to his seat near the tent +and began to whittle. The purpose of this whittling must soon have been +evident to an observer, for he held the object up frequently and viewed +it, with the calculating eye of a "dead shot," until at last he was +satisfied with the length and "grip" of the handle and the symmetry and +trim of the prongs of a fork. + +Bud was always very methodical in his youthful mechanics. Everything he +made must be "just so," hence the results were usually effective, as well +as artistic to a degree. In this instance, even the notches that he cut +around the extreme ends of the prongs were neatly grooved, in spite of +the limitation of the light in which he worked. The only regret he had +was the fact that he possessed no good strong cord, about the size of +fishline, with which to attach two separate sections of the rubber band +to the prongs at the grooves. As substitute for such cord he had provided +himself with some strands of the rope with which the hands of their +prisoner, "Captain" Howard, had been tied. After all the other details of +his mechanical labor had been completed, he took from one of his pockets +an old and inexpensive pouch-like pocketbook, emptied the contents into a +trouser pocket and proceeded to cut out a section of the pouch to a size +and shape suited to his needs. The rubber band he had cut into two equal +lengths and in the leather section from his pocketbook he cut two small +holes near opposite edges. + +The assembling of the parts of his contrivance was now speedily +accomplished, resulting in a very neat hand-catapult of a kind with +which every boy is familiar. After testing the strength of the +connections by stretching the rubbers several times to thrice their +ordinary length, Bud looked about him and soon gathered a supply of +small stones suitable for missiles. + +He was thus engaged when he first observed a movement in the shadow of +the thicket to the south of his position. Then, indeed, he congratulated +himself on the preparation he had just made to defend himself and his +companions against stealthy and hostile movements on the part of the +enemy about the camp under cover of the darkness. + +Bud was not, by nature, a blood-thirsty boy. All of these preparations +for battle were made without the slightest thought of the actual effect +of one of his missiles should it hit his mark. His industry was inspired +more by the mechanical act than by any picture of human pain that might +result. Hence, when the time came for him to make use of his weapon "with +deadly intent," he found himself in a hesitant frame of mind. He knew +that some animal, human or otherwise, was eyeing the camp with studied +interest, and it was difficult to imagine other than a human being +capable of such interest. + +Bud finally came to the conclusion that the animal half hidden in the +shadow of the bushes was a man, and that the latter's interest was +centered in "Captain" Howard, whom he doubtless believed to be held +prisoner within the four canvas walls of the tent. + +"I bet he's one of those four men that took Hal and me and marooned us on +that other island," the boy mused. "Of course, he's looking for a chance +to set our prisoner free, but he's doomed to disappointment. My +goodness!" + +Bud whirled around suddenly as a new possibility occurred to him, +stimulated by a slight noise like the cautious tread of a man's foot. The +next instant a cry of alarm almost escaped him as he saw a human form +near the entrance of the tent. + +"My goodness!" he repeated aloud, but in subdued tone, as he recognized +the approaching youth. "You'd better announce yourself, Max, before you +come onto an armed person under such circumstances as these." + +"Armed!" echoed the Canadian youth in surprise. "I thought Mr. +Perry said--" + +"Oh, yes, he said we couldn't have his automatic, but I've been busy +making a very effective substitute since I came out here--see?" + +Bud exhibited his weapon by drawing back the leather sling, thereby +stretching the elastics to their full capacity. His searchlight he had +switched off after finishing the work on his catapult, and the only +illumination in the open area came from the moon over the tree tops. + +"Did you make that out here to-night?" demanded Max in astonishment. + +"Sure--why not?" was the other's reply. + +"Well, you're some boy, all right. I'd never 'ave thought of it. If +anybody means mischief around here, he'd better look out, with a weapon +like that in your hands." + +"You bet he had," Bud returned with a sturdiness of purpose, indicating +to his Canadian friend that he meant business. "And there's at least one +prawler around here already. I'm glad you came out here, for I was just +about to come in and wake up the whole camp." + +"Is that so?" whispered Max. "Why, what's doing?" + +"I don't want to let on that I know anybody is prowling about," Bud +replied; "but if you'll watch those bushes straight south of here for a +while you'll make out the form of a man half hidden there. He moves a +little every now and then. Be careful and don't let him know you known +he's there." + +"I won't," Max replied excitedly. "Why don't you shoot at him?" + +"I don't want to do that unless I have to," Bud replied. "Besides, +I'd like to know what he's up to. Why did you come out here? Couldn't +you sleep?" + +"I didn't sleep a wink; I couldn't. My head was in a whirl all the time. +I was busy imagining just such things as this. Believe me, it was some +spooky job, out here all alone." + +"Yes, that's true," Bud agreed. "I'm glad enough to have your company. By +the way, you haven't explained how you happened to come here with Mr. +Perry. We're mighty glad to have you here, but I was wondering how your +folks happened to let you come." + +"Mr. Buckley is my uncle," Max replied. "I called him up and told him +what was going on out here, and he asked me to come along." + +"Oh, that's it," Bud returned. "I was wondering if you Canadian boys are +way ahead of us Yankee boys when it comes to doing as you please. My +father wouldn't let me come on this trip if Mr. Perry hadn't come along." + +"I guess we're not much different from you Yankees," Max replied. "But, +talkin' about doing as you please, it seems to me that you went pretty +far when you made that slingshot after Mr. Perry said you mustn't have +a pistol." + +"Oh, that's nothing like a pistol," Bud replied. "You couldn't kill +anybody with it." + +"I don't know about that," Max answered with a shake of his head. "I +wouldn't like to be in front of it when you shot. I bet you could knock a +fellow silly with it." + +"Maybe I could. Well, anyway, a slingshot's a long way from being a +pistol. Have you made that fellow out yet?" + +"Yes, you bet I have," answered Max. "I've seen 'im move several times." + +"Let's sit down and pretend not to suspect that anybody's watching us," +Bud proposed. "Then maybe he'll be a little bolder." + +"All right, but we'll have to keep a close watch out of the corner of +our eyes." + +"Sure. Come on. Here are a couple of chairs." + +"Let's sit down facing each other, so that nobody can creep onto us +unawares," suggested Max. + +"That's a good idea," said Bud. + +They seated themselves, face to face and within "whispering distance" of +each other and continued their conversation in low tones, but at the same +time keeping a sharp lookout for developments. + +"This experience has proved one thing," Bud remarked in the course of +their continued discussion, "and that is that all our watches ought to be +in two's." + +"Yes, a single watcher gets pretty lonesome, and, besides, it's too easy +for him to be taken by surprise. Now, there's a sample of what I say. +Don't look yet; he'll know we see him. He's moved, farther to the east, +and now he's creeping up behind the tent." + +"We must make sure that he's alone, or else rouse the rest of the camp," +said Bud excitedly. "Keep watch in every direction. I'll turn slowly and +get a look at him, and then turn back and pretend not to see him." + +This program was observed carefully for a minute or two. Meanwhile the +spy crept closer and closer, crawling like a serpentine quadruped and +making fairly good progress withal. At last, however, Bud decided that it +was time for him to do something to put a stop to this proceeding. + +Without giving his companion any warning as to his intention, he lifted +the catapult eye-line high, pulled back the sling, in which all this time +he had held a stone nearly half the size of a hen's egg, and let it fly. + +Thud! + +That the missile hit the mark hard was indicated, first, by the sound of +the blow, itself, and, second, by the muffled cry of agony that followed. +The next instant the victim, who seemed to be struggling to retain his +"quadruped balance," rolled over with a moan of impotent agony. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI + +The Sling Shot Victim + + +"What's the matter, boys?" + +Mr. Perry appeared at the entrance of the tent with this question on his +lips. The boys turned quickly, while Cub's father advanced nearer to +pursue his inquiry. + +"I shot somebody," Bud replied. + +"Shot somebody!" Mr. Perry exclaimed. "What with?" + +"This," the boy answered, exhibiting his slingshot. "Some fellow was +prowling around here and I thought it was time to stop him. He was +standing in those bushes over there for a long time, and I suppose he +thought he was fully concealed, but I saw him. Then he started to crawl +up close to the tent, and I let him have a good solid, heavy stone. It +went like a bullet--these rubbers are awful strong, and I pulled them +way back." + +"He isn't killed; he's crawling away," Max interrupted at this point. + +"We mustn't allow that," declared Bud. "We must find out who he is and +what he was up to." + +Just then Hal and Cub appeared on the scene, and a few words sufficed to +explain to them what had occurred. All of the campers on retiring had +kept on their day clothes, in order that they might be ready for action +in case of trouble in the night. + +"Come on, we must stop him," Cub announced. + +This seemed to be the opinion of all, including Mr. Perry, and a general +move was made in the direction of the slowly retreating injured spy. They +soon overtook him and threw a flood of illumination about him with their +search-lights, which they had picked up in the dark almost as +instinctively as a grandmother picks up her glasses in the morning. + +"Why, he's a boy!" + +Bud was the only one present who gave utterance to this discovery aloud, +but the "exclamation" flashed mentally in the head of every other +youthful investigator in the group. As Mr. Perry was not easily +mystified, we must take it for granted that he was not easily astonished, +so that probably he did not feel like giving vent to anything of the +nature of an exclamation. + +"Well," said the latter quietly; "we must take this youngster back to the +camp and give him some hospital treatment. Can you walk?" he added, +addressing the victim of Bud's slingshot. + +"You don't think I'd be down here if I could, do you?" moaned the fellow +sarcastically. "But just wait till I get over this and I'll fix the +fellow that hit me." + +"Let's not waste any time with him here," urged Mr. Perry. "Some of you +boys pick him up carefully, so as not to hurt him, and carry him into the +tent. We'll give him a quizzing there." + +All the young members of the Catwhisker party had had first aid +instruction, so that they knew how to lift the injured boy and carry him +with a minimum of pain to the sufferer. A minute later the victim was +lying on one of the cots in the tent, with his captors gathered around +him, undoubtedly more concerned about the mystery of his presence than in +the extent of his injuries. + +"No, boys, we mustn't try to get his story from him until we take care of +his wound and see to it that he is resting easy"; Mr. Perry interposed. + +Accordingly the wound was examined and found to consist of a very bad +bruise on the side of the right hip. Bud's missile had struck the +intruder at a point where there was little flesh, right on a protruding +ridge of the hip bone, and it was easy to see that the blow must have +been very painful. + +"I don't think it's very serious," Mr. Perry remarked after examining the +wound; "but I doubt if this boy will want to be running around very much +for several days. About all we can do is to apply some liniment to the +wound and encourage it, by careful treatment, to heal as rapidly as +possible." + +A bottle of liniment was accordingly produced and an application +administered by Mr. Perry. This seemed to ease the prisoner-patient +somewhat, although he made no effort to stand up, or even to sit up. + +"He may have a bone fracture," Mr. Perry remarked, after he had finished +his first-aid ministration, "It's a pretty bad wound, after all. We'll +have to take him to the nearest physician in the morning if he doesn't +show decided improvement by that time. I didn't dare rub the liniment in +because the slightest touch was so painful." + +"The skin isn't broken," Bud observed, with a tone of real concern, for, +in spite of the fact that the fellow was there on no friendly mission, +the catapult "dead shot" now felt no exultation over his deed. + +"No, or I could not have used the liniment," Mr. Perry replied. "His +clothing protected him against a broken wound. By the way," he continued, +turning to the victim, who lay on one of the camp cots that formed a part +of the regular equipment of the Catwhisker; "who are you and what were +you doing here?" + +"Never you mind who I am or what I was doing here," snapped the youth, +who appeared to be a few years older than the boy Catwhiskerites and +their Canadian friend, Max. "You wait till my father gets after you. +He'll clean you all up." + +"And who may your father be?" inquired Mr. Perry with provoking calmness. + +"You'll find out who my father is, just you wait. You haven't any right +here. These islands belong to my father and--" + +"Oh--ho!" interrupted Mr. Perry in tone of sudden discovery. "So that's +the way the wind blows, is it? I get you now. You're the son of one of +those kidnappers." + +The boy's face twitched, possibly with pain, more likely with alarm at +his having betrayed his identity so foolishly. + +"We'll get down to the bottom of this mystery yet," Cub declared +confidently. + +"Yes, all we need is a little mathematics, Mr. Perry, and we'll soon +solve the problem." + +"We've had some mathematics already," Mr. Perry smiled. + +"I didn't see it," returned Cub. "Maybe I'm slow." + +"No, you haven't got farther than your One's in the addition table. You +can add 1 to any other number, but you can't tell how much 2 plus 2 are." + +"All right, I'm foolish," admitted Cub. "Spring your joke." + +"This is a rather serious situation in which to spring a joke," +reminded the "foolish boy's" father. "But didn't you hear me put two +and two together when this fellow declared that this island belonged to +his father?" + +Laughter greeted this sally, in spite of the seriousness of the +situation. + +"By the way, I wonder if we haven't got this youngster's father a +prisoner on the Catwhisker," Mr. Perry continued. Then he turned toward +the youth on the cot and inquired: + +"Is your father a tall, angular fellow with a smart, flip way of talking, +and do his friends call him captain?" + +The catapult victim did not answer, but the expression on his face was +all the evidence that was needed to indicate what an honest reply would +have been. + +"I thought so," said Mr. Perry. "Now, would you like to make a trip down +to the landing and occupy a stateroom in the Catwhisker with your father? +The Catwhisker, by the way, is a yacht in which we made a trip from +Oswego, New York, to rescue a boy marooned by some young scamps on this +island. After he was marooned, your father and his friends kidnapped him +and took him away. Now, what we want to know is, where is he?" + +Still the wounded prisoner made no reply. + +"There's going to be some awful serious trouble for your outfit if that +boy isn't returned," Mr. Perry went on, waxing fiercer and more fierce in +his manner as he purposely worked up a towering rage for the sake of its +effect on the boy on the cot. "Would you like me to turn you over to the +father of the boy whom your scoundrel gang kidnapped? What do you think +would happen to you if he got hold of you? Well, he's on the boat down at +the landing, and your father is there too, under lock and key. And before +long we're going to have the whole gang of you under lock and key. Now, +don't you think it is best for you to give up your secret and tell where +that boy is?" + +The prisoner was now thoroughly frightened. He shrunk away from the +glowering owner of the Catwhisker as if he feared the man's clenched +fists were about to rain blows on his wounded body. At last he gasped in +trembling tones: + +"I don't know, I don't know." + +"Don't know what?" thundered Mr. Perry. + +"I don't know--I don't know--where he is," stuttered the terrified boy. + +"And I don't believe you, young sir. Do you understand me? You're not +telling the truth. Come on, boys, we'll turn him over to the father of +the boy they kidnapped." + +"Oh, no, no; don't, please don't, mister," pleaded the scared youngster. +"I don't know where that boy is; please sir, I don't. But I'll ask my +father to tell if you'll take me to him." + +"There, I thought we'd get something out of you," said Mr. Perry in tone +of satisfaction. + +"But you didn't do it with mathematics this time, dad," Cub declared in a +voice that indicated full confidence of victory. + +"Oh, yes, I did, my youthful minus quality," his father flashed back. "I +multiplied my wrath very righteously, and this fellow is going to have +his woes multiplied and his joys subtracted and his peace of mind divided +into a thousand more pieces if he doesn't get busy on the square and see +to it that young Alvin Baker is returned to his father." + +"He isn't hurt nearly as bad as he pretends to be, Mr. Perry," Hal put in +as the "mathematical man" indicated that he had "spoken his speech". "He +moved his leg several times. You better watch out or he'll be jumping up +and making a dash for liberty." + +"I'd been noticing that," Mr. Perry replied. "I wouldn't insult Bud's +catapulting powers by intimating that this fellow wasn't pretty badly +hurt; but I do think we've overestimated the extent of the injury. He was +completely knocked out by the blow, but he's been recovering here pretty +rapidly. Come on, now, Master Howard--what's your first name--won't tell, +eh?--all right; we'll find out in due time--come on, let's talk a walk +down to papa and that terrible man whose claws are just aching for +revenge for the loss of his son. What--you can't get up? Well, boys, pick +him up again and carry him. Be careful, of course, for he's in some pain +yet. Now, we'll march. Bud, you bring up the rear with your mediaeval +rubber pistol, and I'll march beside you. If anybody, tries to interfere +with us there'll be some crack-shot shooting." + +Hal, Cub, Bud, and Max picked up the wounded boy in approved +relief-ambulance-corps style and carried him, with a few groans and moans +from their burden, across the open area, through the narrow belt of +bushes, to the top of the hill that overlooked the landing. There Mr. +Perry called a halt and then hailed the yacht thus: + +"Ahoy, the Catwhisker." + +All listened breathlessly, but no answer came. Then the owner of the boat +put greater volume in his voice and repeated the hail: + +"Ahoy, the Catwhisker! Ahoy, the Catwhisker!" + +This time an answer came, but hardly in the manner expected. + +A muffled, rattling, rackety noise came from within the cabin, the door +of which seemed to be closed. It sounded as if someone were pounding and +kicking the walls like an insane patient in an unpadded room. + +"What in the world does that mean?" Cub demanded, giving utterance to the +apprehension that thrilled every other member of the party. + +"I don't know," his father replied; "but I'm going to find out pretty +quick. You boys stay here with the prisoner. I'm going down there to +investigate." + +With this announcement, he drew his automatic for ready use and began to +descend the steps they had fashioned in the stony hill before +establishing their camp on Friday Island. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII + +Chased Out + + +The investigation did not take long. The boys watched Mr. Perry as he +crossed the moonlit deck of the Catwhisker and entered the cabin. A few +minutes later he returned on the deck and with him were two men, whom the +observers on shore recognized as Mr. Baker and the Canadian officer. Then +Mr. Perry called out: + +"Come on down here, boys." + +A minute later they were on board the yacht with their prisoner. Cub, the +most impatient of their number, was first to speak. + +"What's the matter?" he asked. + +"Matter enough," growled the officer. "Those scoundrels outwitted us, +locked us in the stateroom, and our prisoner is gone." + +The boys were so astonished that not one of them uttered a sound. + +"I haven't heard their story yet," Mr. Perry interposed. "We'll all get +it together." + +"It won't take long to tell how they did it," Mr. Buckley began. Then he +seemed to hesitate, glancing in some embarrassment at Mr. Baker. + +"I'll take all the blame," the latter confessed at this juncture. "In +fact, there's nobody to blame but me. I wasn't asleep at my post, but my +wits must have been slumbering, for one of those fellows stole up behind +me and gave me a rap on the head that put me to sleep sure enough. When I +woke up I was in a pitch dark stateroom, with the door locked. Luckily my +searchlight had not been taken out of my pocket, and soon I had the place +well enough lighted to determine where I was. I also found something +else; I found Mr. Buckley in the same condition that I had been +in--unconscious. Mr. Buckley can tell you the rest." + +"There's absolutely nothing for me to tell," Mr. Buckley replied, "I went +to sleep on the cot in the cabin and woke up with a headache in the +stateroom. Mr. Baker was working over me as if I'd been shell-shocked on +the battlefield. I think we both were sandbagged, for there were no +bruises on our heads. We were locked in and probably would have been +driven to the necessity of breaking the door open if Mr. Perry hadn't +come when he did and let us out." + +"I found both the stateroom door and the cabin door locked with the keys +on the outside," Mr. Perry explained. "Well, we have this consolation at +least: While we were losing one prisoner, we were capturing another." + +"What do you mean by that?" Mr. Buckley; demanded quickly. + +"Here's the new prisoner right here," was the other's reply, indicating +the catapult victim who had suddenly found himself able to stand with his +weight on his uninjured leg and aided by two of the Catwhisker boys. + +"Who is he--one of that gang?" asked the officer. + +"He's a son of one of them, probably the one who was rescued from you." + +"Lock him up in that stateroom at once, and I'll have something more to +tell you," Mr. Buckley ordered. + +The order was speedily obeyed; then all gathered eagerly about the +government officer. + +"The situation is this," the latter began. "When those rascals raided +this boat they robbed me of my gun and I suppose they got yours, too, +didn't they, Mr. Baker?" + +The father of the missing freshman slapped his hand on his "pistol +pocket" and then gasped: + +"Yes, it's gone." + +"I thought so," continued the officer. "Now, we have an armed enemy to +contend with. If they get wind of the fact that we have the son of one of +them a prisoner on this yacht, you can expect a fusillade of bullets +popping through your portholes any time. My advice is to get out of here +as soon as possible." + +"Where'll we go?" asked Mr. Perry. + +"We'll decide that after we get away. If you want to keep your prisoner, +don't stay here." + +"Dad's got his automatic yet," Cub reminded with youthful confidence in a +chamber full of shells. + +"And I've got my slingshot," chimed in Bud. + +"Tee-hee," laughed Hal. + +"Oh you can laugh all you want to, Tee-hee, but if it hadn't been for my +slingshot, we wouldn't have any prisoner at all right now," Bud flung +back with a suggestion of resentment. + +"Yes, we must give Bud credit for all he's done," Mr. Perry agreed. "We +owe a good deal to his ingenuity." + +"We ought to take our prisoner over to Rockport and put him in jail," +suggested Mr. Baker. + +"On what ground?" asked Mr. Buckley. "What would you charge him with? He +hasn't done anything except spy around your camp here. You couldn't put +him in jail for that and keep him there any time. Besides, his father +claims to own these islands--maybe he does." + +"Well, what are you in favor of doing?" asked Mr. Baker. + +"I think we ought to move your entire camp outfit to this boat and then +stand off from the shore for a while and keep our eyes on this place with +spyglasses--have you got a pair?" + +"Yes," Mr. Perry replied; "two good strong pair." + +"Then we'd better get busy at once before they suspect what has become of +this boy we have here." + +"All right, let's get busy at once," said Mr. Perry. "The boys, however, +must stay here on the boat. We don't want to run any risk of their +falling into the hands of the enemy." + +"Oh, Mr. Perry, let me go along with you and get my radio outfit," +Hal begged. + +The yachtsman looked at the pleading youth for a few moments in +hesitating manner. + +"I don't know," he replied slowly. "Still, I suppose we could protect +one of you if anything happened. Well, inasmuch as we men don't know +anything about disconnecting a radio hook-up. I guess we'll take you for +one trip. Come on; no more delay. Keep a good lookout, Cub and Bud, and +set up a holler if anything goes wrong. And, Bud, be careful not to +mistake us for the enemy when we return; we don't want to be hit by that +sling of yours." + +"We ought to have a signal, so we could be sure to recognize each other," +Bud suggested. + +"All right, what'll it be?" + +"The Catwhisker ought to have an official signal," said Hal. "Why not +make it 'meow'?" + +"Very good; it's adopted." + +The first trip was made without incident worthy of special note. Hal and +Mr. Baker brought all of the radio set except the aerial, and Mr. Perry +and Mr. Buckley each carried a load of camp equipment on their return +trip. Then Mr. Perry insisted that Hal remain on the yacht, and the three +men went ashore again for another load. + +But from this trip they came back sooner than looked for, and the manner +of their return alarmed the boys, who expected momentarily to hear pistol +shots fired at them from the shore. The three men came down the hill to +the landing almost at a run, and as they reached the deck, Mr. Perry +announced in cautious tones: + +"Boys, we'll have to leave that camp as it is for a while. Those men are +up there watching for us. We don't want to get into a gun battle with +them; so we're going to back out of here as fast as we can." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + +A Radio Eavesdropper + + +The Catwhisker was backed out of the narrow inlet or strait, in which she +had been moored, without interference on the part of the hostile men on +Friday Island. Whether or not the latter knew of the departure of the +yacht, the men and boys on board had no way to determine. It is probable, +however, that they heard the coughing and sputtering of the gasoline +engine and that they watched proceedings from any of the numerous places +of concealment afforded by rocks, bushes, and trees along the shore +elevations. + +At any rate, the most careful scrutiny of the deep shadows revealed +nothing to the Catwhiskerites and their guests as the yacht worked its +way out of the inclosure, and presently they exchanged congratulations +one with another on the assurance that they were well out of pistol-shot +range from the group of islands. + +"How far do you think we had better go?" asked Mr. Perry addressing +the Canadian officer after this matter of concern had been well +taken care of. + +"Oh, I think we ought to find a mooring place at some island about a mile +from here and try to get a little sleep before daybreak," Mr. Buckley +replied. "I'm sure Mr. Baker and I need some brain rest after the slams +we got on our craniums. I've got the worst headache right now that I ever +had in my life." + +"So have I," Mr. Baker chimed in. + +"All right, let's not discuss this affair any more to-night," Mr. Perry +proposed. "Boys, you may as well get your wits together to arrange the +most comfortable sleeping quarters possible under the circumstances. I +guess about all our bedding is at the camp." + +The boys set about to do as suggested, but it was not long before they +realized that wits could do little for them regarding rest convenience +for the remainder of the night. Presently they reported back the +following results to Mr. Perry: + +One lounge in the cabin, bedding enough for one of the berths and enough +other bedding and articles of clothing to be rolled into pillow +substitutes for half a dozen sleepers. + +Presently Mr. Buckley, who had been keeping a sharp lookout ahead in the +moonlight, supplemented by the strong headlight of the Catwhisker, +pointed out what seemed to be a suitable mooring place for the yacht for +the rest of the night, and a careful run-in was made, accompanied by +pole-soundings to prevent running aground. The depth proved to be O.K., +and in a short time the yacht was tied up to a small tree which leaned +over almost far enough to dip some of its branches into the water. As all +were eager to waste no time belonging to nature's nocturnal period of +rest, the pillow substitutes were soon rolled and the various sleeping +quarters assigned according to varying degrees of necessity. Because of +their "sand-bag headaches," Mr. Baker and Mr. Buckley were given the +cabin lounge and the available stateroom berth. Although they felt +reasonably safe against further intrusion in their new quarters, +nevertheless it was deemed wise to maintain a series of one-hour watches, +the first of which fell to Mr. Perry by his own choice. Before the +general retirement of all but the first watch, an inspection was made of +the stateroom prison, and the boy prisoner was found to be fast asleep on +the floor with one arm for a pillow. + +Hal was given the last watch, beginning shortly before the break of day. +Bud who had preceded him, handed over his slingshot together with a +supply of stones which he had brought in one of his pockets from Friday +Island. Hal accepted the catapult with profound respect, expressing full +confidence in his ability to repel a formidable array of would-be +boarders with a weapon of such knock-out record. + +After it was light enough for him to see what he was doing, Hal occupied +his time by connecting his radio set for service on the yacht once more. +When this task was completed, he set about to prepare breakfast, deciding +that he would let the sleepers get another hour's rest, as he could +prepare the morning meal alone almost as quickly as with the aid of one +or two others. He had already learned the truth of the housewife's axiom +that "two are a crowd in a kitchen, and three are a throng." + +At 7 o'clock he called all the sleepers to breakfast. The two "sand-bag +headaches" were no more, and everybody was as cheerful as could have been +expected under the circumstances. + +"What are we going to do about Bud's prisoner?" Hal inquired as they were +about to gather around the cabin table, which was well loaded with +appetizing dishes, some of them steaming hot. + +"Oh, we'll have to give him some breakfast," replied Mr. Perry, starting +for the prison-stateroom. "I'd quite forgotten him." + +Without more ado, the prisoner was produced and supplied with +conveniences to prepare for the morning meal. After he had washed and +combed his tousled hair, he presented a fairly respectable appearance and +was given a place at the table. He sat through the meal without as much +as a "thank you" for dishes passed to him, and the other breakfasters, +observing that he was in anything but a cheerful mood, did not attempt to +draw him into conversation. + +After breakfast the three men on board held a conference, the result of +which was an agreement to run back to the Friday Island group and make an +inspection of it with glasses from every possible angle. In this way they +hoped to be able to obtain a clew relative to the headquarters and +activities of the men who had ordered them to move their camp from Friday +Island. Then the engine was started, and the course of the Catwhisker +directed up stream. + +"Now, my friend," remarked Mr. Buckley, addressing the young Canadian; +"you'd be perfectly welcome to the freedom of the deck under ordinary +circumstances, but the present are extraordinary circumstances, so we'll +have to ask you to resort to the pleasures and comforts of the cabin. +Boys," he added, addressing the three young Catwhiskerites, "you may go +into the cabin, too, and get acquainted with him." Then in lower tone to +Cub, who stood near the officer, he suggested: "Maybe he'll be more +talkative with you boys than he has been with us men. See if you can't +get something out of him." + +Cub "tipped" Hal and Bud as to the purpose communicated to him by +the Canadian officer, and the three conducted "Bud's prisoner" into +the cabin. + +But the latter proved to be about as uncommunicative as he had been +when the older members of the yacht's company tried to get something +out of him. He appeared to be bright enough and not especially coarse +grained, so that from the standpoint of quality qualifications, there +seemed to be no reason for his sullenness. Hal frankly made a statement +to him to this effect, but it produced no result of the kind desired +and intended. They got only short, surly returns in response to their +most friendly advances. + +At last they gave it up and returned on deck. Before leaving the cabin, +however, Cub said to the prisoner: + +"Now, if you'll promise to stay here and not make any attempt to escape, +we won't lock you up. Otherwise we'll have to lock you up in a +stateroom." + +"I'll promise," was the fellow's laconic response. + +"By the way," Bud remarked, as they were about to leave the cabin, "would +you mind telling us the handle of your name? We know your father's +surname, but we'd like to know how to address you. You're too young for +us to call you Mr. Howard." + +"You c'n call me Bill, if you want to," the slingshot victim replied. + +Hal was particularly impressed with a sly, cunning look in the eyes of +the prisoner and told himself that the fellow would bear watching to keep +him out of mischief. + +"I tell you what I'd like to do," he said to his two friends as they +reached the deck. "I'd like to hide in the closet in the cabin and watch +that fellow. I bet he'd do something that would help us break his +mysterious silence." + +"You could steal down into that little alcove near the entrance of the +cabin and watch him there through the crack in the door," Bud suggested. + +"That's second best choice," said Hal, "I think I'll make use of +it at once." + +Accordingly he descended the companionway with the greatest caution and +succeeded in ensconcing himself in the position suggested by Bud. He had +not been there long when he was amply rewarded for his diligence. + +He could hear the prisoner moving about in the cabin and a peep through +the long narrow aperture along the hinge side of the door acquainted him +with the object of the Canadian boy's interest. The latter, apparently, +had just seated himself at the table, and with phones to his ears, was in +the act of tuning the instrument. + +Presently he appeared to be satisfied with this preliminary and put his +hand on the sending key. The fellow seemed to be perfectly at home with +the outfit. Now the key was tapping and the spark was leaping across the +gap. The secret watcher leaned forward eagerly to catch every sound. Yes, +it came in genuine enough dots and dashes, and he read them with ever +increasing astonishment. + +First the operator repeated a Canadian call several times. Then, +apparently, the call was acknowledged, and he sent the following message: + +"I am prisoner on yacht, Catwhisker, in hands of the fellows I tried to +hold back, with radio, as they were leaving Oswego, N.Y. They are +determined to solve mystery of your doings. Don't bother about me, but +tell pa to clean out his place as soon as possible and then let his +prisoner go. They have government officer with them on his trail and will +soon find his hiding place and raid it." + +"My goodness!" Hal breathed excitedly. "Now I'm getting at the bottom +of this affair. That boy is the anonymous amateur who pretended to +have a radio wager with Hal's cousin and tried to make us think his +SOS was a joke." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX + +The End of the "Mystery" + + +Hal almost held his breath in his eagerness to maintain perfect silence +in order that he might "listen-in" to this radio transmission until the +sender had telegraphed all that he had in mind to send. + +"My, if I only had an extension receiver," he thought. "How I would like +to hear what the fellow he's talking with has to say." + +Even as this longing came to his mind, "Bill" ceased to send and listened +attentively to something that was coming to him "over the wireless." +Presently he swung the aerial switch over and began to send again. + +"I tell you you are in danger," he dot-and-dashed. "That hiding place is +not safe any more. They will have a revenue cutter down on you, before +you know what has happened. The government officer suspects the truth, I +am dead sure." + +A few more sentences of similar purport were sent in reply to other +messages received. Then "Bill" cut the radio conversation short with a +warning that he did not dare continue it longer and left the table. As he +got up from his seat, Hal stepped into the cabin and remarked: + +"Congratulations, 'Bill'; I didn't know you were a radio fan. But really, +I'm glad to recognize you as an old acquaintance." + +"Bill" turned as white as the proverbial sheet and trembled like the +aspen of similar associations. Then he blurted out: + +"I don't know what you mean." + +"Do you deny that you were just telegraphing a message to a friend of +yours?" Hal demanded. + +"No, not at all," replied "Bill". "I guess that ought to convince you I'm +not the criminal you're trying to make me out to be." + +"I'm not trying to make you out a criminal. I surely hope you're not. No, +I don't believe there are many criminals among radio fans and college +students." + +"College students!" + +"Say, 'Bill Howard', don't try to play the innocent to a fellow who's +been listening-in to your unconscious confessions ever since you began to +talk in your sleep," Hal scoffed with well simulated disgust. "I know +well enough who you are. You're one of the sophomores of Edward's College +who hazed Alvin Baker by marooning him on that island where his cousin +shot you with a slingshot." + +"Bill's" lower jaw dropped, and there was some more aspen trembling in +his frame. + +"You don't need to be so badly scared," Hal went on with a tone of +reassurance inspired by a purpose. "Of course that was a pretty raw +hazing, but you can get by with it yet if you don't carry your prank any +farther. Tell us where your victim is." + +"Give me a few days and I'll produce him," the frightened boy pleaded. +"He isn't hurt, and nobody's goin' to hurt 'im." + +"Well, I'm glad to get that much out of you," Hal declared with profound +gratification. "But I don't see why in the world you have to be so +mysterious about it. Why not tell me now where he is?" + +"I--I--can't," faltered the other. + +"Don't you know?" + +"No, but I can find out." + +Hal was sure the fellow was lying, and he looked at him with accusing +penetration. + +"You'll have to let me do it my own way," the Canadian youth added +stubbornly. + +Realizing that he could make no further progress with the prisoner at +present, and fearing that it might not be wise to disclose what more he +had learned by listening to the wireless messages the hazer had just +sent, Hal returned to the deck and recounted his experience in the cabin +to his companions. All were assembled at the pilot house when he gave +his recital. + +"This is important," said Mr. Buckley when the account was finished. "I'm +glad you didn't disclose to him the fact that you suspect anything is +going on of interest to the Canadian government. He won't be on his guard +so much perhaps as he would be if you had put all your cards on the +table. By the way, everything seems to be happening in our favor right +now. There's a Canadian revenue boat over there. Let's run over that way +and hail it." + +The boat in question was somewhat larger than the Catwhisker and looked +as if it might give the yacht a merry race if the two were matched for a +test of speed. She was 300 yards distant and in a few minutes the evicted +Friday Islanders had run up within short hailing distance of her. Then +Buckley gave a signal, which was recognized, and the two boats were +brought close together. A short conversation between Buckley and the +commander of the revenue boat was sufficient to acquaint the latter with +the situation, and he promised to remain in the vicinity in order that he +might come speedily to the aid of the Catwhisker when needed. + +Then began the work of careful examination of the Friday Island group +with binoculars. The yacht was only a few hundred yards from these +islands when the Canadian revenue cutter was sighted. After arrangements +for co-operation had been made with the commander of this boat, the +Catwhisker began to move slowly around the group, while Mr. Perry and Mr. +Buckley examined every detail of their littoral features with strong +glasses. Cub was at the wheel, and Mr. Baker, Bud, Hal and Max stood near +the two men with the glasses, eagerly waiting for significant results. + +"I wonder if this is to be the finishing stroke," said Bud, addressing +the two boys near him. + +Mr. Perry overheard the "wonder" and replied: + +"I am confident that we will solve the whole problem very shortly." + +"With mathematics?" asked Hal. + +"You see we are moving in a geometric circle, do you not?" Mr. Perry +returned with a smile. + +"Oh, look there!" suddenly exclaimed Max. "A motor boat." + +But there was no need of calling attention to so conspicuous an +appearance. All saw it at the same time. It darted out from a narrow +passage between two of the smaller islands surrounding the one that Alvin +Baker had denominated "Friday." It was a small cabin runabout, very +neatly designed and constructed; and apparently with a draft measured +only by inches. She made directly for the yacht. + +"Catwhisker, ahoy!" called out a youthful voice, and a wide-awake +red-haired boy put his head out of one of the port windows of the cabin. +"I want to come aboard with important information." + +Of course, everybody aboard the Catwhisker was astonished, but Mr. Perry +signaled Cub to reverse the engine. This was done, and the yacht soon +lost all headway. Then the runabout glided close up to the larger power +boat, and the boy who had hailed her sprang over the two adjacent rails. +Another boy could be seen in the pilot seat of the smaller craft. + +"My name is Halstone," announced the visitor. "I am from--" + +His announcement was drowned with exclamations of surprise from +his audience. + +"Hal Stone!" repeated several in chorus, including the Catwhisker's Hal +Stone himself. + +"Yes, Halstone," reiterated the challenged youth; Frederick Halstone. +"Anything funny about that? I'm the reporter from Watertown who was +dot-and-dashing with you folks last night. I got in touch with a friend +of mine right away who owns that motor boat, and he was crazy to make the +trip here after this big scoop. I'm here representing not only my paper, +but the Associated Press. We located Friday Island here without any +difficulty. But I brought my radio outfit and loop antenna along and +listened in just a short time ago to some messages between somebody who +said he was a prisoner on the Catwhisker and another fellow on a boat in +the cove I just came out of. You'd hardly think a boat of its size could +get in there. It's about the same size as the Catwhisker, and is built +and painted like it. I think you'll find the solution of your big mystery +is right there. They're loading a lot of stuff in boxes from a cave in +the steep bank of that small island next to the big one. The cove is +between these two small islands, which, you see, have high banks and are +covered with bushes and trees, so that their boat could rest there and be +invisible to anybody out on the river or on the shore of the larger +island that you call 'Friday'. They're making a big hustle to get away." + +"Is there a boy in there?" asked Mr. Baker eagerly. + +"Yes, several of them and four men. The men were pretty sore at me for +running in there, and they ordered me out. I don't think, however, that +there's much love lost between the men and the boys. I suspect the men +are smugglers, and the boys have got into a scrape they don't like. +There was an exchange of hot words going on just as I ran into their +hiding place." + +No more time was wasted in the making of explanations. The little revenue +cutter was signaled and in less than fifteen minutes half a dozen men, +including Mr. Buckley and Mr. Baker, were on the cabin-runabout which +again saucily invaded the retreat of the Catwhisker's "double." + + + + +CHAPTER XXX + +The Result of a Radio Hazing + + +The raid was a speedy success. "Captain" Howard and his crew of +lawbreakers offered no resistance when they saw the odds against them, +for each of the men from the revenue cutter was armed and promised to +shoot to kill if a hostile hand was raised against them. + +Then they made an inspection of the cave, which was of considerable size +and lighted with an oil lamp, and there the lost victim of a radio +college hazing was found chained to a post that had been driven into the +ground floor. He had not suffered from malicious mistreatment in any +way, but was chafing under restraint and confinement. He was a little +older than the Catwhisker boys, but he had no "college airs" and was +soon telling his story as one boy to a group of chums, while the men +stood around and drank it all in as eagerly as if they themselves were +boys again. + +"Bill Howard made the biggest mistake of his life when he confederated +with three other sophomores to haze me," Alvin began. "He didn't know his +father had a hide-out here when they marooned me on Friday Island. His +father owns several motor boats that are used for pleasure excursions, +but, I suspect, he wasn't making money fast enough and fell for a scheme +put up to him from the other men who are now his companions in crime. +They were in touch with a gang of burglars and hold-up men who wanted a +means of disposing of their loot. They induced Mr. Howard to consent to +the use of one of his boats to convey stolen property of various kinds to +this cave as a hiding place, and from here, occasionally, to places of +disposal, principally in the United States. Well, Bill's band of hazers +unwittingly brought me to these islands, and before long there was a +pretty mix-up. The operators of this burglars' 'fence' found me on Friday +Island and got the idea, I suppose, that I was spying on them. At first I +hoped they would let me go, but I made some foolish remarks, based merely +on suspicion, about the character of their business, and they concluded +the jig was up and brought me right to this cave, and, of course, after +that I could see everything that was going on. Then the hazers appeared +on the scene. I suppose they became a little nervous about me. I gathered +from conversation I overheard that they stumbled into this place while +searching for me and then they were taken partly into the confidence of +the lawbreakers. But they're pretty smart boys, if they are sophomores +and if their leader is a son of a smuggler of stolen goods, and soon were +putting two and two together--" + +"More mathematics," interrupted Mr. Perry gravely. + +Alvin looked at him curiously, but this was no time for academic +digression, and the veiled quip had to await later explanation. + +Of course there was more discussion of the strange tangle of events, +which now seemed to be about to be cleared up. Indeed, it took many days +for them to thrash the subject out completely, but it would hardly do to +write another book on matters now essentially explained so we must leave +those details to the diversion of Friday Island camp. + +The camp was rehabitated, Hal's radio outfit was hooked up again with the +island aerial, and all of the Catwhiskerites and their newly discovered +radio friends enjoyed a week's undisturbed outing in the midst of recent +personal romantic associations. + +As for the "radio hazers," they went back home with no spirit of "brag" +over their achievements, and the members of the band of smugglers of +stolen goods were held in custody and eventually punished under sentences +returned in a Canadian court. + +Meanwhile Mr. Perry took steps looking toward the purchase of the Friday +Island group from the Canadian government as a summer camping place for +the Catwhiskerites and their friends. + + +The next volume of this series will be RADIO BOYS AND THE SKY PLOT or +BOTTLING THE BOREALIS. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE RADIO BOYS IN THE THOUSAND +ISLANDS *** + + +******* This file should be named 12878.txt or 12878.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/1/2/8/7/12878 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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