"Well, suppose we find the island and nobody there, how are we going to know it's the right one?"
This hit the other two boys pretty hard. The possibility of such a situation had not occurred to either of them. However, Cub preferred to take it in lighter vein, for he replied:
"By his footprints on the sandy beach. You mustn't have a Crusoe Island without some footprints, you know."
"The trouble is you're anticipating too rapidly, Bud," Mr. Perry advised.
"Columbus would never have discovered America in that frame of mind."
"All right, I'll change the frame," said Bud. "We'll just go ahead and see what we shall see."
"We've got to go ahead if Hal's cousin is in peril," declared Cub.
"Do you really believe the Crusoe boy is your cousin, Hal?" asked Bud.
"Of course that's hard to believe, but the evidence points in that direction," Hal replied.
"At least if he is your cousin, we know now that he wasn't making monkeys out of us, as that last message, supposed to come from him, made it appear he was doing," Cub admitted.
"Yes," put in Mr. Perry; "it looks now as if he was telling a straight story all along."