Immediately the other Cubs began to gather from all sections of the beach.
“Gosh! What fast workers you little guys are!” Mack Tibbets complained goodnaturedly as he hurried up. “It didn’t take you long to dig up the chest!”
“We haven’t found it yet,” Brad replied. “But we have stumbled into something else.”
Already Mack’s startled gaze had fastened upon the sprawled figure of the boy on the sand. Before he could comment, Mr. Hatfield and the other Cubs arrived.
“What’s this?” the Cub leader demanded, stopping short.
Dan explained how he and Brad had found the strange boy lying on the sand, adding: “The kid raised up a second and then lapsed off.”
“Unconscious?”
“I don’t think so, sir,” Brad replied. “He seemed more exhausted than anything else. We haven’t touched him.”
Mr. Hatfield knelt in the sand, feeling the boy’s pulse which was weak and fast. Carefully he turned him over to look directly into his face.
Again the eyelids fluttered open and his lips moved slightly. Mr. Hatfield bent closer but could not distinguish the words.