Josh often cast apprehensive glances toward the silent shore of the nearby island as the shadows grew longer, with night coming on. Sometimes he fancied he saw something moving amid the thick brush, and was almost inclined to tell his comrades; only he feared their shouts of derision, and the accusation that he allowed memories of that silly ghost to haunt him.
And after all, it usually turned out that the moving object was some innocent little denizen of the woods, a prowling ’coon perhaps, out ahead of time in search of a supper; or possibly only a chipmunk searching for tempting roots to satisfy its desire for food, while waiting for the new crop of nuts to come along.
Night settled down at last, and this time the boys were pleased to note that the heavens were almost clear, so that the moon would have a fair chance to play hide and seek with the few floating white banks of clouds.
Most of the boys seemed in high spirits. They laughed and joked as they went about the usual duties of the evening hour. If Jack had anything serious on his mind he failed to take his comrades into his confidence. And yet, now and then he would smile, as though certain thoughts that pushed themselves to the front amused him; and this seemed to be the case more especially when he heard the others talking about the pleasant professor from Ann Arbor.
[CHAPTER XVI—JACK’S DARING VENTURE]
Somehow no one suggested having supper ashore that night. There was something chilling about the mysterious island that dampened the ardor of the boys in this respect. Had it been anywhere else, they would have looked upon the opportunity for having a jolly camp fire as too good to be lost; but somehow all seemed satisfied that they remain aboard.
Josh for one was just as well pleased. He even neglected several golden chances to give Nick those customary sly digs; and this was a most unusual thing for Josh.
Nevertheless, even the proximity of a haunted island could not long hold in check the natural bubbling spirits of a pack of healthy lads. After supper, as they lay around in as comfortable attitudes as was possible, some one started singing, and presently six voices took up the chorus, so that a volume of sound welled up out of that cove calculated to startle all the ghostly visitants that were ever known to gather there.
No one seemed to be sleepy; for even when the hour began to grow late there was little talk of getting out the blankets. Stories were told, jokes flew around, and taken in all they were a merry group, apparently without a single care in the wide world.
George broke into this delightful harmony finally by saying: