All these little things were supposed to be a part of their education as scouts and woodsmen. They aroused considerable interest among the boys, many of whom had never bothered their heads before to discover that kinds of wood burned in various ways; that one might give out only a light brown smoke, hard to discern, while another would send up a dense smudge that could not fail to attract the eye of any watcher.
Paul showed them that when they wanted to signal with smoke, as all scouts are taught to do when learning the wigwag code, they must be careful to select only this latter kind of wood, since the other would not answer the purpose.
He had been thinking deeply over the matter, and had about made up his mind as to what course they should pursue. Like most of his comrades, Paul was averse to being driven away from Cedar Island by unknown parties, without at least another effort to explore the mysterious place, and making an attempt to discover what sort of business these men were engaged in.
That it was something unlawful he was convinced, as much as any of his chums. Indeed, everything would seem to point that way. Men do not often hide themselves in an unfrequented section of the country, unless they are engaged in some pursuit that will not stand the light of day.
At one time Paul had even suspected that these men might be some species of game poachers, who wishing to defy the law that protected partridges, and all feather and fur-bearing creatures in the woods, during the summer season, had taken up their dwelling on lonely Cedar Island.
This was in the beginning. On thinking it over, however, he came to the conclusion that there was hardly enough game of all kinds within fifty miles of Stanhope to pay several men to spend their time snaring it; and so on this account he had thrown that theory overboard.
As they ate their breakfast the boys talked of nothing else but the mystery of the island, and many were the expressions of opinion that they must not think of leaving without doing everything in their power to lift the curtain.
They wanted to know who the strange men were who had brought some bulky object across from the mainland in a rowboat; what business they were engaged in there; who the wild man might be, and last of all whether he had any connection with the others.
"You see," declared Bobolink, in his customary impressive way of talking, "it looks to me as if they had him here to scare meddlers off. Who wants to rub up against a wild man? Everybody would feel like giving the hairy old fellow a wide berth, believe me. But Paul, if you make up a bunch to explore this bally old island, please let me go along."
There were others just as anxious and then again some gave no expression to indicate how they felt about it. So the wise scout master, not wishing to have any half-hearted recruits with him on such an errand, observed these signs, and made sure to pick only such as had pleaded for recognition.