“And I’d like to know when you passed us!” said Case, looking at Rube.
The giant only grinned.
“Out with it!” the lad commanded.
“Well,” was the reply, “I suppose I’ll have to tell! When I said the Rambler had been passed, I didn’t mean that we had passed her in the original channel of the Rio Grande. We took a side channel!”
“A side channel!” exclaimed Jule. “We saw no side channels! Where is it?”
“Just above the route you boys followed there is an island. Didn’t you notice it?”
“We thought it was nothing but a false alarm, leading nowhere,” replied Jule.
“The channel is rather narrow, but the water is deep enough to take in a boat like the Esmeralda,” was Rube’s reply.
“Still, I can’t see how that helps you out,” continued Alex. “The island may be there, all right, but the island can’t talk! It didn’t tell you that the fellow had paid another visit to the Rambler, did it? Who did tell you?”
“He told me himself!”