Accordingly, the other pair came back, and shipped Jack, together with his inseparable companion, that wonderful box with its crank, necessary machinery, and fine lens.
They leisurely pulled to the shore. A small, sandy beach offered an inviting landing place, and the light boat soon ran up on the gentle slope. Then some time was spent in watching Jack get busy, though after he had once found his focus he soon secured all he wished in order to complete his picture.
“Do we go back now?” asked Ballyhoo. “It feels so jolly just to stretch your legs on solid ground again after all the time we’ve been cooped up in those narrow quarters that I’d like to stay ashore a while, if it’s all the same to you, Oscar.”
“I was going to suggest that we start out and explore the Key,” the one addressed went on to say, at which Ballyhoo grinned amiably, and nodded his head.
“Good idea, too,” he hastened to observe. “We’ve never had a chance before to see what one of these sandy Keys is like. And from the looks of things, now we’re close in, it wouldn’t be such a tough job to break through that scrub. Most of the thick growth, it seems, is in the mangrove thickets along the shores.”
“Will you come along with us, Jack?” asked Oscar.
“Please excuse me, boys,” the other replied. “This camera weighs a whole lot, as you both know, and it’s a pretty hot day in the bargain. I wouldn’t like to leave it behind, because we only fetched the one with us this time, and if anything happened to injure it my cake would be all dough.”
“Perhaps you’re sensible, after all, Jack,” laughed Oscar. “We may be sorry we started before we get through with the job.”
“If we find the going hard through the island,” said Ballyhoo shrewdly, “why, we could come back along the beach, mebbe. But shucks! there isn’t going to be any difficulty at all. Still, I’m curious to know what that smoke I saw meant.”
At hearing him say that Jack spoke up.