When the motor-boat rounded the point, however, Payson changed his mind. On shore there were a score of lanterns; both banks of the cove fairly bristled with them. “Hello,” exclaimed Payson, “there’s something doing there all right!” And he altered his course so as to bring his craft into the mouth of the river.
As the boat ran up to the bridge boys came down from both sides, apparently all the boys of Camp Amoussock.
“Why, it’s Dave!” cried John Tuckerman. And immediately the two in the boat were the target of a volley of questions.
“Hold on!” cried David. “Wait a minute.” He swung himself out of the boat and up to the bridge.
“Where are Lanky and Tom?” someone asked.
“Aren’t they here?” said David. And as Tuckerman and Mr. Perkins and the boys from the camp crowded around he told them briefly his adventures since dinner.
“We’ve been hunting for you ever since supper,” said Mr. Perkins. “I can’t imagine where Larry and Tom can have gone.”
“Those three men rowed in here in the dory,” said David. “Perhaps they carried Larry and Tom off somewhere.”
“We’ve hunted through every shack,” said Bill Crawford. “And we’ve been down the coast a couple of miles.”
The chorus of voices explaining where they had hunted started in again, interrupted by Mr. Perkins giving the order to his troop to take the road back to camp.