"Well, what's the first thing to be done?" asked Andy, after he had assisted Frank to pull the boat up on the beach beyond high-water mark.
"There's plenty to do," declared his brother. "In the first place we've got to decide whether we'll stay on shore over night, or sleep on the boat. If we stay on land we've got to bring our grub ashore. Then, the next thing is to map out a plan so we can search the island, and not go over the same ground twice."
"My! You'd think you had done this sort of thing all your life, and had it down to a science," declared Andy with a laugh.
"Well, if it's going to be done at all, it might as well be done right.
This thing is getting serious, and I want to clear it up if possible.
For our sakes as well as for Paul's."
They talked the matter over at some length, and decided that it would be more fun to camp on shore instead of going back and forth to the boat to sleep and eat.
"The weather is warm," said Andy, "and we can sleep out in the open, especially as we have plenty of blankets. And it will be jolly to build a fire on shore and sit around it nights. Just like some old sea pirates. Wow!"
"Easy!" cautioned his brother. "This isn't a joy-picnic. We're here on serious business, and there may be some danger."
"But we might as well have some sport along with it," argued Andy, who could not help seeing the funny or bright side of everything. Frank, though more serious, did not despise a good time by any means, but he went at matters more determinedly than did his brother.
"To my notion, the first thing to do is to go at this search with a system," went on the older lad. "We'll climb up to the top of the cliff, and see if we can make out anything from there. If that man is here he may have set up a camp, and built a fire. If he has, we can easily see it from the cliff. Then we will know where we're at."
To this Andy agreed, and soon they were toiling to the top of the high land that ran lengthwise of the island, roughly dividing it into two parts. It was no easy matter to reach the summit, and several times the boys had to stop for a rest. But finally they were at the goal.