"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 compa.s.s?"
"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 sh.o.r.e, 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 ash.o.r.e, 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?"