"Oh, hurry up, Hal, and tell us what this means," urged Cub impatiently. "What's the use o' keepin' us guessing all this time. Bud and I'll admit we're mystified."
"Yes," grinned Mr. Perry; "you'd better hurry up and enlighten us, or
I'll have to drag the secret out of you with mathematics."
"Addition or subtraction," asked Hal.
"Extraction," replied "the man who couldn't be mystified" with significant emphasis on the "ex".
Laughter followed this quip, the levity of which caused Hal to feel more like "loosening up".
"Well," said the latter, producing a small leather-back notebook from one of his pockets; "here is the secret of my information."
"Where did you get that?" Cub demanded.
"I found it."
"Where—not here?"
"Yes, on this island. It's a diary of my cousin, beginning with the time he was left here by a bunch of college hazers."