“Whew! now, that does look suspicious, I must say,” George exclaimed, in a low and cautious voice.
“But there isn’t a sign of any boat in the bayou, as far as I could see,” Jack went on. “Of course, it’s so dark now that I wasn’t able to take in the whole bay; but, anyhow, there isn’t a light visible.”
“And now, what nixt?” asked Jimmy, eager to get at the solution of this perplexing problem, which was thrilling their nerves more and more as they made progress.
For answer, Jack moved forward, this time using the friendly lantern as before. Brushing through the screen of saw palmettos, they could see the water lapping the shore of the lagoon, though there were still bushes and tall grass between.
“Hello!”
Uttering this exclamation half under his breath, the leader of the trio suddenly came to a halt. Jimmy half raised the gun he was carrying, as though under the impression that they were about to be confronted by something, either a human enemy or one in the way of a wild beast, that would bar their further progress.
Then he saw that Jack, instead of showing signs of preparing for battle, was on his knees, eagerly examining certain marks in the sand.
“What have you found?” asked George, in an awed tone.
“As near as I can make out, there are tracks that seem to tell of a scuffle!” was the ready reply, as Jack pointed here and there.