Paul knew them all pretty well, and he also realized the fact that every fellow possessed a nature bordering on the stubborn. It was the dread of being thought cowardly that kept them from taking the cue from Paul, and ending this foolish advance.
They had gone over fifty feet since the last stop, and passed the last large tree which could be looked on to give them any shelter.
It was just at this moment that once again the big man was seen coming hastily around the corner of the shed.
At sight of him the boys stood still. There was no use trying to hide now. Perhaps some faint hope took possession of them that they might be unnoticed if they did not move; just as the still hunter, stalking a feeding deer, will watch its short tail, and whenever he sees it twitch he stands perfectly motionless; for he knows that the animal is about to raise his head, and that he will probably be taken for a stump if he does not move hand or foot.
But evidently the man had sighted the seven khaki-clad scouts. He seemed almost petrified with amazement at first, and stood staring at them. As if awaking from his trance, he began to make frantic motions with his arms, and at the same time shouted hoarsely at them:
"Go back! Get out of that! You're crazy staying there! Run, I tell you, while you have the chance! Get away! Get away, you fools!"
The scouts looked at each other in astonishment. What could it all mean? Were all the men on this queer island stark, staring crazy? He called them that, but it is always a rule for mad people to believe every one else crazy but themselves.
"Say, what does the guy mean?" cried Bobolink, who seemed to be utterly unable to understand a thing; "mebbe it's a small-pox hospital we've run on, fellows!"
But Paul was beginning to see a light. Possibly the excited gestures, as well as the urgent words of the big man, may have assisted him to arrive at a conclusion.
He no longer felt so decided about not speaking the word that would cause his little detachment to turn and retreat. There must be danger hovering over them, danger in some terrible form, to make that unknown man so urgent.