“Count on me if Mr. Bartlett is willing,” laughed Leslie Capes. “And I say that without even asking what’s in the wind. I know that when you get an idea in your head it’s generally worth something.”
“Listen,” said Dick. “When I saw that well-trodden trail the gorilla had made you remember I remarked that it must lead to the place he’d been using for his den. Now that the old fellow is safe, and there’s no danger of meeting him on the way, I’m thinking of taking a look-in on his home.”
Leslie was interested immediately.
“Thank you then for selecting me to go along, Dick,” he cried.
“Just as if you weren’t always first choice with me, old fellow,” returned Dick. “But honest, I’m curious to find out what sort of place the wily old beast picked out for his den. More than likely we’ll never know how he got across to this island; but we can find out what he’s done here in these months since he broke away from the circus in that storm.”
“And,” continued Leslie, “I rather think you hope we may be lucky enough to find some of the many things the thieving rascal has made away with, not only from our camp, but from that of the sporting party up here for the fly-fishing earlier in the summer.”
Dick nodded his head in the affirmative.
“There’s no telling,” he admitted. “Though perhaps we’d better not count our chickens before they’re hatched. Even if we find nothing, it’ll be interesting to follow that path made by the feet of the gorilla.”
“Sure it will,” agreed Leslie, “now that we know where the old gent is stopping temporarily. If he were foot-free nothing could tempt me to meander in that quarter, and take chances of meeting him face to face in the brush, where running would be a hard job. Whee!”
He shrugged his shoulders to add emphasis to his words, and Dick evidently quite agreed with his partner, to judge from the look on his face.