CHAPTER XI
ONE MYSTERY IS SOLVED
Swimming dejectedly back to their small bit of beach the chums took off their soaked clothes and hung them in the sun to dry.
“Well, here we are!” observed Nicky ruefully.
“Well, here we are!” mimicked Cliff. “Don’t you like it? I thought you were fond of mystery and adventure!”
“Whether I am or not, I’m getting it!” Nicky admitted. “But this was more than I bargained for.”
“Same here,” exclaimed Tom.
“I see,” Cliff grinned at them. “You two are—sort of—arm-chair adventurers. You like to have the thrills without the hardships. Just look at us!” he declared. “We couldn’t be deeper in adventure if we tried to dig our way in! Right in the midst of treasure-land! Stranded and deserted on the edge of an awful swamp—isn’t the Big Cypress Swamp north of us? Surely it is! Without food! Drenched and helpless. What more could you ask?”
“I see what you are aiming at,” Nicky grinned back. “We must take it as it comes and make the best of it.”
“That’s it,” Cliff agreed. “You know we’re not so badly off. Mr. Neale will come rowing along in the dinghy and then we’ll all crowd in and be rescued—what a story we’ll have to tell our grandchildren.”
They were compelled to laugh at his tone and his ludicrous words. It made them all feel better.