CHAPTER XVI
TRICKED AGAIN!
Nothing else happened that night, but the boys had already had enough excitement to keep them awake long past their usual time for turning in. Some of them, indeed, were for starting out in pursuit of the Big Four, but Mr. Fulton promptly squelched the plan. There was little hope of finding the boat in the dense darkness.
Next morning, before breakfast, Sid Walmaly and Dave were sent out on a scouting expedition, but they were not gone long. The Big Four had been found, barely half a mile down, stranded on a sand-bar. A jagged hole in the side showed where the kidnappers had tried to scuttle the craft.
After this event, the boys settled to their work in high spirits, undeterred by the fact that the motor was still missing, although Mr. Fulton felt sure it could not have been taken from the island. Phil ventured to advance a theory, which the boys were inclined to scout but which Mr. Fulton finally decided was at least worth the time and effort it would take to try it out.
The men had had no time to carry the motor far, argued Phil. They had not gone to their boat, else they could hardly have made their way back to the hangar. They might of course have picked it up after they had been frightened away, but there had been hardly time for that. They had undoubtedly hidden it in the first place. The easiest place to hide the thing was in the river, and the closest trail to the river hit the extreme north end, where there was a steep-sided bay.
"Who's the best swimmer in the crowd?" asked Mr. Fulton. "I don't dare take very many away from the job, but we've got to have the motor."
"Jerry Ring's the best swimmer and diver in Watertown," announced Dave without hesitation. Mr. Fulton turned inquiringly to the Boy Scouts, but no one answered his questioning look until Phil at last spoke up quietly:
"I'll go along if you need another one."
"I do. You two take the Scout boat and bring her around the point. I'll go through the woods—be there in half an hour or so, when I get things running smoothly here. Be careful you don't find the gas-eater before I get there," he jested.