"I'm going to ask you that same question," he managed to say. "Who are you, and what do you want coming ashore in the night to board this wreck?"
The men turned and looked at each other.
"What d'ye think of that, now, Captain Bill?" asked the younger man. "Me to be asked that, as has lived and cruised aboard this old whaler Comet for six years and more, till she was wrecked in the ice last season, and they carried me away, out o' my head from exposure? Ain't I got a right aboard here, if anybody has? 'Twas only lately that I learned she was ashore 'stead of bein' at the bottom of Hudson Bay; and as I had some valuable papers hid in a bulkhead that I thought was lost to me for good and all, why, I got Captain Bill, whose mate I am this trip, to come ashore along with me, so's to see if they be here still. We knowed there was a wild crowd prospectin' for copper up around these parts, and didn't dare try to land in daylight. There was other reasons besides. But now we've told you who and what we are, s'pose you turn around and enlighten us. Seems like I seen them sort o' suits afore now, on the Boy Scouts o' Swamsscot, where I hail from in New England. Be you members of the same organization, boys?"
For a minute almost, none of the three lads could find his breath to answer. The astonishing truth actually stunned them. They saw liberty and safety looming up within their reach. There was no longer any doubt concerning their chances for leaving this inhospitable land, and carrying the answer which would mean so much to Mr. Bosworth and those capitalists associated with him.
It was Jimmy who recovered first, and his ringing cheer that went pealing forth over the heaving waters of Hudson Bay.
CHAPTER XXII.
THE MYSTERY SOLVED—CONCLUSION.
"Hooray for the greatest thing that ever happened!" Jimmy roared, as he swung his campaign hat wildly about his head, and even started a jig, such was his exuberant condition. "The luck of the Wolf Patrol holds as good as ever! In the nick of time, the villain gets his dope and we pull off a brilliant victory. Hooray!"