The others glanced toward the east, where the light of the moon was just beginning to appear along the horizon.
Even as they stood there and talked in low tones the silvery face of the moon pushed up into view. Being some days past her full, she was shorn of a portion of her circuit; but still promised a flood of light during the balance of the night.
Somehow even this circumstance seemed to give the boys new encouragement.
“Things never look quite so bad when you can see what’s what,” was Will’s way of mentioning this circumstance.
“Suppose you come and sit down, Frank. Both of us are just dying to hear all about what happened to you and Jerry,” said Bluff, presently.
“There’s precious little to tell, but what there is you shall hear, boys. I’m ashamed to say that it was while I was a little ways off, examining some curious mounds, made perhaps by the old Indians, that this thing happened to our chum. But let’s sit down here, and I’ll tell you all about it.”
In a low tone he started to detail the few things that had marked the circuitous journey of himself and Jerry, while the others hung upon every word, anxious to hear the thrilling dénouement where he found the comrade who had shared his adventures, missing.
Just as he reached this point, and they were all worked up over it, Bluff gave a sudden jump. On the spur of the moment Frank supposed he had become so nervous over the description that he could no longer sit still. He was therefore astounded to hear his chum cry out:
“Looky there, boys! As sure as you live, some miserable reptile is getting away with the canoe I used in fishing, and left pulled up on the beach!”