“He’s gone!” Diamond whispered, in astonishment, stopping again in the hope that other sounds would guide him.
When he had listened for full two minutes, he heard a splash like the dipping of a paddle blade in the water. It was at one side and some distance away.
He dashed through the bushes and stood on the shore of the lake. A canoe was vanishing in the mist.
“That rascally guide is up to some dirt, sure as I live!” he muttered. “I’ll just go back and rouse up the boys, and when he returns we’ll demand an explanation!”
With this resolution, he started back across the island, puzzling vainly over the guide’s queer actions.
Scarcely had he left the shore when he tripped and fell.
“Chug!”
“Spt! Spt! Gr-r-r!”
The first sound was made by Diamond dropping into a hole between some roots or rocks; the other sounds revealed to him the unpleasant fact that he had tumbled into some den of wild animals.
“Goodness! what can they be?” he cried, scrambling out with undignified haste and retreating toward the high rock that he saw towering just at hand. “Wildcats, maybe! They sound like cats!”