“You mean from the mainland, I suppose,” ventured Leslie. “Can a gorilla swim, do you think, Dick?”
“I don’t know, but I should say not,” came the dubious reply.
“Well, then we’ll just have to make a stab at it, and let the thing go at that,” Leslie continued, philosophically. “Mebbe the beast was on a log that drifted away from the shore when he was washing his face or trying to catch a fish for his dinner—if gorillas ever eat such things, which I doubt. Then the floating log carried him across to the island, and he’s been marooned here ever since. How about that for an explanation, Dick?”
“For want of a better it will have to stand, I suppose,” Dick told him. “But let’s go and give the rest of the bunch a surprise.”
Leslie, of course, was willing, and away they hurried to startle their camp-mates with the recital of the discovery they had just made.
Every one had to examine the stick that had the clump of dun-colored hair fastened to its splintered part. Then all rushed to the spot where the remains of the man-trap lay scattered around, Dick taking care that no one crowded so close as to endanger the strange and telltale footprint.
Long and earnestly every boy gazed at this mark. Queer feelings came over them as they realized that in all probability Dick had indeed solved the mystery.
Nat in particular was triumphantly declaring that he had been vindicated.
“Say, what did I tell you?” he demanded of Dan and Peg as a grin crept over his face. “A gorilla can hop if it wants to, can’t it? Well, that’s what the critter did with me when it saw me startin’ to sit up. And say! ain’t a gorilla somethin’ like a short, squatty man with wide shoulders and long arms? Well, didn’t all three of us try to describe the thing we saw in the brush like that? Huh! next time don’t get quite so fresh with your remarks, Peg Fosdick!”
“Oh, so far as that goes, Nat,” the other said humbly enough, “we all admit that you must have been right. Yes, and I’ll go further when I say that if a gorilla hopped over me in the night, and I saw him, I’d think it was the Old Scratch himself. You’re all right, Nat, even if you were scared half to death.”