"Clearly," thought the boy, "I have stumbled on some tangle that may be of use to us."
As the other plied him with more questions, he resolved to be as secretive as possible.
CHAPTER XXI.
ATTACKED BY MARQUESANS.
But for some purposes of his own, Morello, on a whispered word from Dayton, brought the examination to an abrupt conclusion. The boys were then, on Morello's orders, bound closely with fiber ropes, and after being hustled into a thick grove of dark-leaved bread-fruit trees in the back of the camp, were thrown into a hut made of pliant strands of some sort of bark, interwoven with bamboo uprights.
The appearance of the hut apprised Nat at once that it was of native manufacture. Evidently, then, this island either at the present time or at some remote period, had provided a living place for native tribesmen. The lad wondered if any of them were on it now, or if they had either fled or been wiped out before the white man.
Even in the dangerous predicament in which he and his companions were now placed, Nat could not help speculating as to the connection between this Elias Gooddale of the South Seas and the dead miner of the same name, whose hoard of sapphires had brought them into this strange maze of adventures.
The other Motor Rangers, too, were puzzled by the strange phase the case had assumed. But they could hit on no explanation.
"I wish I had that tin box with the papers we found in the hut," thought Nat. "I never read them all through. I wish I had now, for perhaps among them might be some document that would throw light on the matter."
But the consideration of their grave danger soon drove all thoughts but those of the immediate present out of the lad's head. At about eight-thirty, as well as he could judge, the two men who had been placed to guard them were relieved by two others, who brought with them the lads' suppers. These consisted of dried fish and rice, with water as a beverage. Their hands were released while they ate, but before long their guardians retied them, strapping them close to their sides in a manner that made all hope of working them loose seem futile.