"Wot"s that?" demanded Pet, anxiously.
"Why, you heard about the two tramps on the _Eastern Star_, didn"t you?"
"Yuh mean the fellers as collared the roll o" Mister Pemberton?" asked Pet, forgetting to even shiver, in his new excitement.
"Yes, and they"re here on this island right now, hungry and desperate,"
continued Frank, thinking it good policy to rub it in good and hard while he was about it.
"Here on this yer island--them desperadoes are?" gasped one.
"That"s easy to say, Langdon; but how d"ye know?" demanded Pet.
"Well, we"ve seen them, for one thing. Then they robbed us of a kettle with our supper last night. Let a cord down from the top of the cliff, and caught the bale of the kettle with a hook. First thing we knew, our supper was sailing up, and that was the last we ever saw of it," replied Frank, now beginning to edge toward the beach, as he had suddenly decided to return by an easier path than the one he had taken in coming.
Then the boys looked at each other uneasily.
"A wild man loose here; an" now them two desperate critters huntin"
round fur anythin" loose. Say, fellers, it"s up ter us ter git outen this in the mornin"," said Pet, shaking his head with determination.
And not one of his mates lifted his voice, even in a whisper, contrarywise. Indeed, to tell the truth, they looked as though the hours that must elapse ere they departed hence would fairly drag along.
Frank, believing that he had reached a point where he could boldly make his exit from the hostile camp, was just in the act of backing away when he saw something that gave him a shock.
"Say, look yonder, you fellows, what"s happening to your provision basket!" he exclaimed, pointing with his gun.
Every boy whirled around, and as he did so a concerted howl went up, partly of rage, though terror could be plainly detected in the chorus.
There was a swiftly moving figure carrying off the big basket in which all the balance of their supplies happened to be gathered. And such a figure--whether a wild man or a gigantic ape--it would be impossible to say, for in the quick glimpse which Frank had of it ere the Thing vanished among the bushes he could only positively say that it seemed to be covered with hair, and when its face was turned it looked a cross between that of a demented human being and a great ape!
CHAPTER XIV--BLUFF TAKES CHANCES
There never was such a frightened group of fellows as that crowd when they saw their basket of provisions vanish in the grip of this awful-looking object.
For a few seconds they seemed too astonished to even move, and the thief had actually gone out of sight in the brush before the first boy made a jump after him.
Whether it was a touch of valor that actuated him, or the desire to get back the precious basket that held their food, it would be hard to say.
"Look out!" shouted Frank, who had seen something descending along the face of the little rise.
Even as he spoke a shower of stones, together with lumps of earth, fell with a great clatter. Somebody was bombarding the camp from above! It looked as though the wild man must have had wings to reach that spot, if the missiles came from him.
By this time Pet himself was in full flight. He had s.n.a.t.c.hed up his loose garments from the sticks on which they were drying at the fire, and made for the shelter of the bushes on the other side of the camp.
The rest scampered this way and that, one even hiding inside the tent, while a couple of others tried to budge the heavy boat that had been drawn up high and dry on the sh.o.r.e, as if seriously considering the chances of flight.
Frank saw his opportunity to get away, and was not slow to avail himself of it.
"Thanks, awfully, Mr. Wild Man; I"m indebted to you," he laughed, as he started along the little beach, headed for his own camp.
He knew his chums would be dreadfully anxious by this time. They must have surely heard the excited cries from the other camp, and would be alarmed lest something had happened to him.
As he drew near he whistled. This was a signal that Bluff should recognize, and which would tell him who approached, so that he would not be tempted to fire, or make any threatening demonstration.
"Welcome back, Frank!" exclaimed Bluff, as he appeared in sight.
"Sure, we"re glad to see you safe and sound. From the racket we began to be afraid that you"d got into trouble," observed Will.
"The trouble seemed to be on the other side, boys. They"ve fared worse than we did. In our case it was only a kettle full of stew; but they lost everything!"
"What"s that? Do you mean somebody cribbed their grub?" demanded Bluff.
"Just what happened, and right under my eyes, too. I saw it done. Oh!
what you missed then, Will! If you could only have snapped off that picture, there wouldn"t be a single soul in Centerville doubt the story about the wild man," said Frank.
"Wild man! Do you mean to say he entered their camp while you were there?"
"And actually grabbed up their stuff under your eyes? Then you can tell us what he looked like. Was it really a man, or an animal, Frank?"
questioned Bluff, excitedly.
Frank shook his head, as he replied:
"There you"ve got me, for just on the spur of the moment I couldn"t say positively. He walked on two legs, and seemed like a man; but looked like a great big chimpanzee, or an ape, I"ve seen do tricks at the circus. Anyway, he was a terrible object, and sent a shiver over me."
"Gracious goodness! and he stole their provisions, you said?" exclaimed Will, involuntarily looking around as if he half expected the dreadful wild man to rush into view right then and there.
"Everything they had, I imagine. One good thing, it will make them get out in the morning, and for that we"re obliged to the wild man. If only Jerry were here, now, I"d be feeling first-cla.s.s," resumed Frank, with a sigh.
"But I don"t understand why he"d enter their camp when he could have gotten a lot of much better grub right here in ours," said Bluff, shaking his head.
"Well, you see, he"s evidently afraid of our guns; and, perhaps, he happened to know that they had none over yonder," explained Frank.
"But is that reasonable? Would a crazy man stop for such a little thing as that? It strikes me this raid on their eating department looks like a set-up job."
"There now, Bluff, you"ve set me to thinking again. I neglected to tell you all that happened. When the hairy monster was making off with the basket, one of the boys started after him; and then and there a shower of stones and dirt came down from above, and fell all around him. After that there was a quick scattering," remarked Frank.
"Evidently the wild man had a friend close by; he wasn"t alone then.
Say, perhaps he"s formed a league with those ugly hoboes. They"re all a hungry lot, and ready to steal anything that comes along in the way of grub."
"Again you may be right, Bluff. If you keep on guessing I"m sure we"ll know all about the whole business soon," laughed Frank.
"But how about that other scheme of yours?" asked Bluff.
"What"s that--the trip to town?"
"Yes. Haven"t changed your mind about it, eh, Frank?" asked the other.