“why didn’t we think before of going to the island?” asked andy, as he and his brother sat in the train on the way to mardene.
“give it up,” answered frank. “but, as the captain says, it would be just the place for a criminal to hide. hardly any boats stop there if they can help it, unless they want shelter from a storm, and it’s out of the line of regular travel. still, we may not find our man there.”
“yes, but it’s a good chance. there’s a fine wind to-day, and we oughtn’t to be a great while running to the island.”
the brothers discussed the curious case into which they had been drawn since rescuing paul gale, and they talked about the island.
its name came from the fact that, situated in the center of it, there was a high rocky cliff. there were several caves running under this cliff, hollowed out by natural means, and rumor had it that, in the early days, sea rovers and pirates used them as places of refuge, or to hide their ill-gotten plunder.
no one had been able to confirm this, however, though it was not for want of trying, as our heroes, as well as several other boys, had paid a number of visits to the island.
but they found no traces of pieces of eight or spanish doubloons, and, truth to tell, the caves were not very inviting places, being damp and dark, so the lads never penetrated very deeply. thus cliff island was not very well known. it was a desolate, barren sort of place, wind and storm swept, and the abiding place of innumerable gulls.
“i tell you what we ought to do,” remarked andy, as the train neared their destination.
“what’s that? not play any more jokes i hope.” and frank smiled as he looked at his brother.
“no, i mean about this chase. we ought to arrange to stay on the island for several days—sort of camp there. it’s so big and so irregular in shape, and with so many caves, that we can’t go all over it in one day. and there’s no telling where that man may be hiding.”
“that’s so. then you think we’d better stock up with grub, and make it a sort of picnic?”
“i do. we can telephone word home of what we’re going to do, so they won’t worry. it will be fun, even if we don’t find any clues of the mysterious man.”
“i’m with you. we can buy our grub in mardene and stock our boat. then for ‘a life on the ocean wave, a home on the bounding deep,’” quoted frank, in a sing-song voice.
the gull was tied up in a small slip where they had left her, and the provisions were soon put aboard. then the two brothers went over every rope and sail, to make sure they would serve in the strain of a storm.
“well, guess we might as well pull out,” remarked frank, as he looked up at the “tattletale,” or piece of triangular bunting flying from the mast to tell the direction of the wind. “we’ve got a good breeze now. i hope it holds.”
“wait just a minute,” begged andy. “i want to take a look at that motor boat,” and he motioned to a large one that was tied near the sailboat. “i wish we had one like that. it’s a beaut!”
no one was near the craft and soon andy was in it, inspecting her critically. frank saw him handling some of the wires that ran to spark plugs in the four cylinder heads.
“better let things alone,” cautioned the older racer lad. “you might get something out of order.”
“i just thought of a little joke i can play on the fellow who owns this,” chuckled andy, as he disconnected one of the high-tension cables.
“oh you and your jokes!” objected frank, somewhat sternly. “you’ll get more than you count on, some day.”
“oh, i’m only going to fix things so that when he turns on the batteries and starts to turn over the fly wheel he’ll get a shock,” explained andy.
“i’ll just cross these wires and—”
andy racer didn’t finish what he was going to say. instead he jumped back as though he had been stung by a hornet, and let out a yell:
“wow! sufferin’ cats!” he cried, holding one hand in the other and prancing about.
“what’s the matter?” asked frank in some alarm.
“i got a fearful shock! the wires were short-circuited and i didn’t know it! smoked mackerel! i got a big charge of electricity!” howled andy.
“serves you right for meddling with other people’s boats, and trying to play jokes on them,” declared frank, as sternly as he could, though he had to laugh at the wry face andy was making as he danced about.
“huh! guess you wouldn’t think it funny if you had about twenty-seven hornets after you!” grumbled the younger lad.
“well, maybe you’ll get over playing jokes some day,” predicted frank.
“i didn’t suppose it was going to turn out this way,” was the dubious answer.
“well, come aboard now, and we’ll get under way,” said frank, trying not to laugh.
a little later, under a spanking breeze, the gull was standing out for cliff island, while the boys peered eagerly forward for the first sight of the bit of land in the big bay which might mean so much to them.
“are you going to sail straight up to it?” asked andy after they had covered several miles.
“well, the best place to drop anchor is in that little inlet on the east side. to get to that we have to sail half way around the island, and i was thinking we might as well make a complete circuit.”
“why?”
“oh, we might see something of the man, or the boat, and that would give us a line on how to act. after we go around we can tie up in the inlet and row ashore. then we can begin our search.”
“i guess that’s a good plan,” assented andy. “now i’ll go get some grub ready and by that time we may sight the island.”
it was shortly after the meal, partaken of while the little boat was pitching and tossing on a long ground swell, that the younger lad, who had stationed himself in the bow, called out:
“land ho!”
“where away?” demanded frank.
“dead ahead.”
“it’s the island, all right,” exclaimed frank. “i laid a straighter course for it than i thought.”
in a little while the barren speck loomed up more plainly. as they approached closer the boys eagerly scanned the shores for a sight of the mysterious man, or the wrecked motor boat. but they saw nothing, even through the powerful glasses they used.
“now to tie up and go ashore,” said frank, after the circuit was completed. a little later the anchor splashed into the shallow waters of the inlet and the two brothers were rowing ashore.
“look out for yourself, mr. mysterious man!” exclaimed andy, as he stepped out of the moat. “we’re on your trail.”
“bur-r-r-r! it’s as desolate as the place where robinson crusoe was stranded!” cried frank, as he looked about.
overhead gulls were wheeling and circling with noisy cries, but this was the only sign of life on cliff island.
