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 theCatwhisker. "I venture to say there are some big surprises in store foryou. For instance, you're likely to find the newspapers of the UnitedStates 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.
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.
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," saidHal.
"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.
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.
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."
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.
"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, orI'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."