CHAPTER XV
The Hook-Up on Shore
Arrived at the open area where Hal had found his cousin's "Crusoe diary", the three boys and Mr. Perry began a careful examination of the surroundings for further evidence that might throw light on the strange affair, which, for the time at least, appeared to defy the mystery scoffer's "mathematics".
First they scrutinized every foot of ground where the grass had been trampled so violently, it seemed, as to suggest a physical combat. But they were not sufficiently skilled in the arts and subtleties of the aborigines to work out the "code" of footprints and twists, tears, and breaks in the grass, twigs and foliage. So the result of the inspection of an apparently recent battle ground was nil.
"I believe we've exhausted every possibility of a clew to the mystery in this spot," declared Cub at the end of half an hour's search. "Let's not waste any more time here."
"What'll we do next, then?" asked Bud.
"Go fishin'" Cub replied.
"I think that's a good suggestion," said Mr. Perry. "We've concentrated our minds and efforts on this problem all day thus far, and a little relaxation probably will do us good."
"Where's the best place to fish?" Hal inquired.
"I think I know," Bud replied. "I found a place where we can climb down the bank to a dandy little beach while I was looking over my section of the island. A little spur of land runs out at that point, so as to form a small bay, and the water there is quiet and looks deep."
They returned to the camp and got their fishing tackle and soon were casting baited hooks into the bay. Bud's prediction as to the hopeful appearance of this place, from an angler's point of view, proved well founded. In less than an hour they caught more fish than they could eat at supper and breakfast.
After supper they formed a campfire circle in front of the tent—without a fire, however, for the normal heat of the atmosphere was all that comfort could demand—and held a further discussion of the situation and the problem with which they were confronted.
"I don't know, boys, but we ought to make a trip somewhere in the Catwhisker and get police help to solve this problem," Mr. Perry remarked with a reflection of years and judgment in his countenance. "Hal's cousin may be in serious trouble, for all we know, and it's our duty to enlist every agency at our command to aid him."
"But while we're gone something might develop here that would throw light on the mystery," said Bud. "Excuse me, Mr. Perry, for insisting on calling it a mystery. I can't think of it as anything else."
"Oh, goodness me!" returned the one thus addressed. "I'm afraid you boys failed to get what I was driving at. I didn't mean there was no such thing as mystery. That depends on your point of view. It is only people who are easily startled or confused by unusual things who are easily mystified. I don't mean to say that it would be impossible to mystify me under any circumstances. For instance, if the man in the moon should suddenly jump down on the earth and give me a brick of green cheese, and then jump back again before I could say 'thank you' I presume I'd be greatly mystified."
"Your illustration won't stand a test of reason, dad," Cub objected. "To test whether it is possible for you to be mystified you must offer a test that is possible."
"That's precisely why I offered that impossible illustration," Mr. Perry smiled. "I wanted to see if any of you boys would catch the inconsistency. You just call this affair a mystery as long as you think it is one, but after it is cleared up, I fancy you'll have difficulty in looking back and picturing it as a mystery in your minds. But I didn't intend to take us off our subject. I was going to answer Bud's argument that something of importance might develop while we were gone. Yes, that is true, but it wouldn't be necessary for all of us to go. Two of us might make the trip and the other two remain here."
"That's a good idea," declared Hal. "Suppose you and Cub go and leave Bud and me here to look after the camp and watch for developments?"
Mr. Perry did not reply at once. Something new seemed to have slipped into his mind and appeared to be giving him some concern.
"On second thought," he said after a few moments of silence; "I'm inclined to withdraw my suggestion."
"What's up now, dad?" Cub inquired.
"I was just recalling a portion of Hal's cousin's diary," his father replied. "According to that, it seems that rough characters visit this place sometimes."
"Oh, we're not afraid," Hal protested. "Besides, you could make the trip there and back in a few hours."
"Well, we'll think it over and decide in the morning what we'll do," said
Mr. Perry.
"Meanwhile, I tell you what we ought to do," Bud proposed. "It's an hour before dark and we'd have time to bring Hal's wireless outfit up here and hook it up before the sun sets."
"That's a peach of an idea," declared Cub, jumping to his feet in his eagerness. "I've got two hundred and fifty feet of extra wire and some insulators on the boat and we can put up an aerial here without taking down the one on the Catwhisker. Then we can shift the radio outfit back and forth to the island and to the boat as we please."
"Good!" exclaimed Hal. "I'm with you on that. Let's get busy and not waste a minute of daylight."
They worked rapidly, and as they were well supplied with material and tools the progress made by them measured up to expectations. They fashioned a two-wire antenna with the spreaders left on the island by Hal's cousin; connected a lead-in to this, and then Cub and Bud climbed the two trees and, with the aid of ropes tied around their waists and the guiding assistance of their companions below, drew the "ether-wave feeler" up to a lofty elevation and fastened it as nearly taut as they could stretch and hold it. In this work they took due consideration of the professional objection to tree entanglements in aerials so that the insulators were well beyond the reach of the longest limbs.
"It's a simple matter now to bring the outfit ashore and hook it up with the aerial," said Hal. "Let's do it."
Enthused by the novelty of their enterprise, they continued the work, even though dusk was rapidly gathering. Several electric-battery flash-lights were produced, so that the twilight did not seriously hinder them. By the time the stars had become a billion glittering gems in the sky, the hook-up had been completed with Hal's sending and receiving set on a table that had been transported from the yacht to a convenient position directly under the aerial and near the opening of the tent.
"Now, let's see what's going on in the air," said Cub. "Hal, you take the first whirl through the atmosphere."
Hal sat down by the table and put a pair of phones to his ears. Then he began to tune. First there came to him a discordant confusion of static and other noises, including an admixture of "ham impudence".
"W H Q's on," announced Hal presently, pushing over the horn switch, whereupon the clear tones of a quartet from the Rochester station was thrown with amplified resonance out upon the reamplifying atmosphere of a land-and-water wilderness.
They "sat through" the program with a degree of enjoyment never before experienced by them under a radio spell. They could almost imagine themselves on an enchanted isle with a band of fairy songsters teasing harmonious echoes out of their surroundings.
"My! I didn't suppose such weird beauty of sound could be produced under any possible conditions," exclaimed Mr. Perry at the close of the last number on the program.
"Now the air will be free for all for a short time," said Hal, putting on the phones and throwing back the horn switch, while the other boys also donned their phones. "I'm going to see if I can get any of those fellows we talked with on the way up here."
"Get that amateur with the radio compass who proved Mr. Perry's mathematical theory," suggested Bud.
"All right I remember his call and wave length; so here goes."
Hal tuned for several moments and sent the call of the Canadian amateur in question. Then suddenly he gave a little gasp of surprise. Only Mr. Perry felt a curiosity as to what it meant, for the other two boys knew as soon did the boy at the transmitting key. Someone was calling them and the call he gave as his own was the Canadian V A X. Then came the following message:
"Have you not given it up yet, boys? I did not mean to carry the joke so far. Better go back home."
Mr. Perry was waiting patiently for an explanation of the tense interest manifest in the attitudes of the three boys. Presently Cub gave it to him, thus:
"We're on the trail again, dad. This fellow we've got is posing as Hal's cousin and he's advising us to go back home."