"But they say something does live on it, and that he's a terror too; a real wild man that's got hair all over him like a big baboon—I heard it from a man that saw him once, and he wouldn't lie about it either," Joe Clausin called out.
Although the rest of the scouts mocked him, and pretended to jeer at the idea of such a thing as a wild man existing so near Stanhope, nevertheless, as the two motorboats gradually shortened the distance separating them from the mysterious island, they gazed long at the dark mass lying on the still water of the big lake and its gloomy appearance affected them.
Just as Joe Clausin had said, it had a real "spooky" air, that, at the time, with night at hand, did not impress them very favorably.
CHAPTER XI
THE CAMP ON CEDAR ISLAND
It was with extreme caution that the two motor-boats crept along the shore of the island, with numerous eyes on the lookout for a good landing place.
"Seems to be plenty of water right here," remarked Jud, who was sounding with one of the poles. "Eight feet, if an inch, Paul."
Paul shut off the power immediately.
"And this looks like the best sort of place to make our landing," he said. "If we don't like it, or find a better for a permanent camp in the morning, we can change. Get busy with the poles, fellows, and shove the boat alongside that bank there."
This was readily done, and Jud was the first to jump ashore. He wanted to be able to say that of the whole troop he had landed before any one else, ghost or no ghost.