“I think the best thing we can do,” he said, “is to skirt the forest there and see if we can find anything that looks like a path or trail. If there’s any living thing on this island it must have left some sort of a trace.”
This was done accordingly, and in a short time they were walking along the edge of the jungle, each one straining his eyes for any indication of a trail. At first they met with no success, but finally Tom gave a whoop. “Here we are,” he yelled, “here’s a path, or something that looks a whole lot like one, leading straight into the forest. Come along, fellows,” and he started on a run along an almost obliterated trail that everybody else had overlooked.
You may be sure Bert and Dick were not far behind him, and were soon following close on his heels. After they had gone a short distance in this reckless fashion they were forced to slow down on account of the heat, which was overpowering. Also, as they advanced, the underbrush became thicker and thicker, and it soon became difficult to make any progress at all. Great roots and vines grew in tangled luxuriance across the path, and more than once one of them tripped and measured his length on the ground.
Soon they felt glad to be able to progress even at a walk, and Bert said, “We want to remember landmarks that we pass, fellows, so that we can be sure of finding our way back. It wouldn’t be very hard to wander off this apology of a path, and find ourselves lost.”
“Like the babes in the woods,” supplemented Dick, with a laugh.
“Exactly,” grinned Bert, “and I don’t feel like doing any stunts along that line myself just at present.”
These words were hardly out of his mouth when the path suddenly widened out into a little opening or glade, and the boys stopped abruptly to get their bearings.
“Look! over there, fellows,” said Bert, in an excited voice. “If I’m not very much mistaken there’s a hut over there, see, by that big tree—no, no, you simps, the big one with the wild grape vine twisted all over it. See it now?”
It was easy to see that they did, for they both hurried over toward the little shack at a run, but Bert had started even before they had, and beat them to it. They could gather little information from its contents when they arrived, however. Inside were a few ragged pieces of clothing, and in one corner a bed constructed of twigs and branches. In addition to these there was a rude chair constructed of boughs of trees, and tied together with bits of string and twine. It was evident from this, however, that some civilized person had at one time inhabited the place, and at a recent date, too, for otherwise the hut would have been in a more dilapidated condition than that in which they found it.