“Say, look yonder, you fellows, what’s happening to your provision basket!” he exclaimed, pointing with his gun.
Every boy whirled around, and as he did so a concerted howl went up, partly of rage, though terror could be plainly detected in the chorus. There was a swiftly moving figure carrying off the big basket in which all the balance of their supplies happened to be gathered. And such a figure—whether a wild man or a gigantic ape—it would be impossible to say, for in the quick glimpse which Frank had of it ere the Thing vanished among the bushes he could only positively say that it seemed to be covered with hair, and when its face was turned it looked a cross between that of a demented human being and a great ape!
CHAPTER XIV—BLUFF TAKES CHANCES
There never was such a frightened group of fellows as that crowd when they saw their basket of provisions vanish in the grip of this awful-looking object.
For a few seconds they seemed too astonished to even move, and the thief had actually gone out of sight in the brush before the first boy made a jump after him.
Whether it was a touch of valor that actuated him, or the desire to get back the precious basket that held their food, it would be hard to say.
“Look out!” shouted Frank, who had seen something descending along the face of the little rise.
Even as he spoke a shower of stones, together with lumps of earth, fell with a great clatter. Somebody was bombarding the camp from above! It looked as though the wild man must have had wings to reach that spot, if the missiles came from him.
By this time Pet himself was in full flight. He had snatched up his loose garments from the sticks on which they were drying at the fire, and made for the shelter of the bushes on the other side of the camp.
The rest scampered this way and that, one even hiding inside the tent, while a couple of others tried to budge the heavy boat that had been drawn up high and dry on the shore, as if seriously considering the chances of flight.