“Heem weigh fourteen, mebby fifteen pound. Bon feesh but some bigger in here,” Jacques told him.
“Well, I’m not going to be cheated out of my sail,” Mrs. Sleeper declared. “It’s not quite eleven yet and we’ll have time for a short one before Jacques has to start dinner. Anyhow, if it’s late it’ll be all right as we’re the only ones to please. Come on Helen and you too, boys.”
The boys were anxious to be alone in order to compare notes, but they could not well refuse the invitation so they accepted with no show of hesitation. They were gone for an hour and it was but a little past noon when they were back in their own cabin.
“Well, I reckon that lets ’em all out, eh?” Jack asked as soon as he had closed the door.
“So far as that arrow is concerned, yes,” Bob agreed. “Whoever shot it couldn’t have got back here in the time we made, unless he had an airship or something of the sort. No, there’s somebody else, but whether or not any of them are mixed up in it is another question.”
“And one which we ought to be answering before long. We know just about as much about the matter as we did before we came up here.”
“And not much more. That’s a fact, but I hardly see how we could have done any more than we have. I tell you, son, whoever’s at the bottom of this game is deep, mighty deep.”
They talked until the dinner horn rang through the forest and decided on a course of action which they hoped would be productive of results.
“Did you save that piece of bark?”
They had joined the Sleepers in the big diningroom and it was Mr. Sleeper who asked the question. “Helen has told us about it,” he added as Bob reached in his pocket and drew it out.