“Probably by this time,” said Tom, “the savages will have returned to the mainland, or some other island from which they came. I don’t think it very likely that they live permanently on this one. It seems too small.”
“Yes, I thought of that,” said Bert, “but we’ve got to take our chance on that. If they are gone, there is nothing else we can do, and we can say we did our best, anyway.”
“But what shall we do when we find them?” asked Tom, after a short pause, “provided, of course, that our birds haven’t flown.”
“Oh, we’ll have to see how matters stand, and make our plans accordingly,” replied Bert. “You fellows had better make sure your revolvers are in perfect order. I have a hunch that we’ll need them before we get through with this business.”
Fortunately, before leaving the ship the boys had, at Bert’s suggestion, strapped on their revolvers, and each had slipped a handful of cartridges into their pockets.
“The chances are a hundred to one we won’t need them at all,” Bert had said at the time. “But if anything should come up where we’ll need them, we’ll probably be mighty glad we brought them.”
The boys were very thankful for this now, as without the trusty little weapons their adventure would have been sheer madness. As it was, however, the feel of the compact .45’s was very reassuring, and they felt that they would at least have a fighting chance, if worse came to worst, and they were forced to battle for their lives.