The other side of the rough shack was partly open, so that considerable light managed to gain admittance. This had enabled the scouts to see a figure lying on some old blankets, together with the skins of several animals.
It was without doubt the wild man who had given some of their troop such a bad scare when he turned up near the camp soon after their arrival on the island.
He seemed to be sound asleep, and none of them were at all anxious to make any sound calculated to arouse him. Indeed, more than one put a finger to his lips to indicate that they were sealed, as he turned and looked anxiously at his comrades.
Paul made motions to let them know it would be just as well if they quit the vicinity of that queer shack, where the crazy man, as they now deemed him, had his home.
A few minutes later, when they had put enough distance between themselves and the rude shelter to permit conversation, Bobolink could no longer keep his opinions to himself.
"He was a jim-dandy, all right, and a genuine wild man of the woods!" he remarked. "What are the circus fellows thinkin' of, to let such a fine chance slip by to get a real 'What-is-it,' fresh from the jungles of Borneo, half man, and the rest gorilla?"
"And he had Nuthin's dog, after all," observed Paul, quietly.
"What makes you say that, Paul?" asked Jack.
"Because, in the first place, I saw a lot of bones, picked as clean as a whistle, lying on the ground over in a corner. Then there was a lair that looked as if an animal slept in it. And if that wasn't enough, I noticed a piece of broken rope fastened to a stake, close by that corner. You remember I said the dog was dragging a piece of rope around with him, when he came creeping up near our camp last night? He broke away, all right; and I guess the wild man will be minus his dog after this."
"Well, that's one thing settled," asserted Phil "We know now, for sure, there is a wild man up here; and some of the officers will have to come and capture him. My father is one of the county freeholders, and he's overseer of the poor in the bargain; so I suppose it'll be up to him to carry out the job. They can't afford to have people say there's a crazy wild man at large, in our district, you see."