Now, it happened that Jack had made this astonishing discovery even before Buster could have done so, for he was so much quicker than the fat boy to observe things, and never had there been a sweater made just like that one with the blue moon on its front.
Jack also knew that the chances were Buster would be apt to say something out loud in his astonishment at seeing his lost property on the back of a prowler, possibly the very man who had stolen their intended supper.
And as the leader of the motor boat boys was as quick as a flash to act, no sooner had this idea entered his brain than he stretched out his arm actually across Herb, and reaching the fat boy, managed to clasp his hand squarely over his mouth.
From the fact that Buster’s lips were twitching at that very second, it seemed evident that he had just been on the point of giving vent to his feelings by some such blunt expression as:
“Well, would you see the nerve of that, now?”
Instead he was brought to a sense of the necessity for complete silence; and as Buster was not at all devoid of common sense he managed to bottle up his excitement somewhat.
But now the man had dropped down on all fours again, and seemed to be moving along with considerable dispatch. Jack had seen that the fellow had eyes only for the motionless figures at the fire; and also that something approaching a grin had broken out on his heavy face when he saw how inanimate they were.
His movements were certainly suspicious, and those that would indicate an intention of thievery. Certainly no honest man would come stealing into a strange camp in this fashion.
What could he want? If this were the same rogue who had made way with the food Josh placed on that flat stone, perhaps he believed that it would be just as well to strike while the iron was hot, and there seemed to be abundant supplies lying around loose. If he were a shiftless fisherman, such as sometimes used to gather here on this island, Jack had been told, why, he might believe that all was fish that came to his net; and seeing the food that had been carried ashore, lying so temptingly around, canned stuff, and all that abundant means could supply, he was now bent on making a haul.