"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," a.s.sented 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 compa.s.s. 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 cla.s.smen 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.