CHAPTER XVII
PITCHING TENTS IN THE "SINK"
"This thing is giving us lots of good practice at making camp, and that'ssomething," Bobolink remarked while he ate, always taking care to keephis voice down to a low pitch, so it would not carry far on the nightair; though for that matter the wind had increased by now and was makingquite some noise through the tops of the trees around them.
"I'd like to see anybody put up tents faster and better than we did righthere," declared Frank Savage; who had by now about recovered from thefeeling of sickness which came so near keeping him at home, when theexpedition was formed.
"And as for fires, these couldn't be beat," observed Spider Sexton, ashe began to catch glimpses of the bottom of his tin platter, aftermaking away with some of the food that had been piled high on it by thecook of his mess.
"And talk about the grub--it just takes the cake," admitted Old DanTucker; though no one seemed to pay the least attention to what hethought, for they knew him of old, and that the present meal was alwaysthe "best he had ever eaten, barring none."
Of course it was only natural that while the scouts were enjoyingtheir meal in this fashion, many looks betrayed an uneasiness on thepart of some among their number. Possibly they were wondering whetherit could be that hostile eyes were fixed upon them then and there, andif so, what those strange, unknown men, who seemed to want to rule theisland, would do when they discovered that the scouts had disobeyedtheir order to leave.
Would they resort to violence? It would not be an easy task to banish adozen and a half lively boys, they were thinking.
Paul had made up his mind with regard to certain things that must bedone. First of all, they ought to get their heads together, and decide ona plan. Should they make any sort of attempt that night to explore theisland? He owned a splendid little hand electric torch, into which he hadslipped a fresh battery before starting out on the voyage along the tworivers; and this might prove very useful in searching dark and gloomyparts of the island. But on the whole, it seemed so foolish to think ofsuch a thing, Paul wanted the rest to settle the matter.
So, still cautioning them to speak only in whispers at the most, heplaced the whole matter before them; much as might the chairman of ameeting, after which he asked in so many words:
"You've heard all I know about it; now, what is your pleasure, fellows?"
"So far as I'm concerned," said Bobolink, always the first to speak; "I'mwilling to do anything the rest say, or go wherever they want to head;but to be honest, boys, I'd think we were off our base if we wentprowling around this queer old island at night time. There are a heap ofthings about it that some people don't want us to know, it seems; and weought to take daylight to spear such facts."
Others were of the same opinion; and when Paul put the vote, it wasoverwhelmingly the sentiment of the meeting that they simply take thingsas easy as they could until dawn came, and then, with fourteen hours oflight ahead, do all the exploring they liked.
That settled it, since there could be no going behind the returns when amajority favored any move. Accordingly, they made preparations forpassing the night as the conditions best allowed.
"Of course, we must have sentries posted to keep watch?" remarked Jack.
"All through the livelong night. They will have to be changed everyhour; and four can be on guard at a time. That'll give about twoturns to every scout, with a chance to get four hours sleep betweentimes on duty."
And having said his, Paul, as the acting scout master, proceeded toassign each one to his post number. There was no confusion. They hadpracticed this same movement many a time, and now that it was to becarried out, the boys profited by their experience.
It could be seen that there was a condition of almost feverish excitementunder the surface, try as they might to conceal the fact by an appearanceof coolness. A real peril seemed to be hovering over them, since they hadchosen to disobey the mandate of the unknown who seemed to claim theisland as his private property. And if they were discovered during thenight, there would be no telling what might happen.
At the same time the boys were enjoying the novel experience. It seemedto give them a peculiar thrill, not unlike that of a daring skater whoshoots boldly over thin, new ice, that crackles under him, and bends in adreadful way, but does not break, because his passage has been too swift.
In the morning Paul would pick out several of them, as he thought best;and with this exploring party set out to learn what the island contained.Meanwhile they would rest quietly in that rocky retreat, in the hope thattheir return had not been noted by any observing eye, and that theirpresence on the island was utterly unknown.
The sentries had been selected, and every boy knew just when his turn totake a post would come around. Those who were ready to lie down and getsome rest were expected to arouse their successors, so that the thing wascalculated to run along as smoothly as though on a greased track.
If anything out of the ordinary came to pass, and there was time toarouse the scout master, Paul wanted it done. He could not remain awakehimself more than any one of the others, much as he might wish to be onthe job all the time; but that need not prevent his keeping in touch withwhatever happened.
Paul still had his shotgun, and had of course made sure to bring it fromthe motorboat when he led his column of burden-bearers trailing throughthe timber and rocks to that little sink in which the new camp had beenpitched. It had served him often and well, and he was accustomed toplacing the utmost confidence in the trusty little weapon. But he hopedhe would find no occasion to use it now, and against human beings. Onlyas the very last resort would he turn to this.
Still, there are times when the presence of an empty gun has donewonders; since imagination invests it with all the attributes of a loadedweapon. And that was one of the many reasons why Paul kept thedouble-barreled gun close to him, even when he crept into the tent towhich he was assigned, and lay down on his blanket to try and get alittle sleep.
Some of the other boys whispered for a while, as they lay with theirheads close together; but they were too sleepy to keep this up for long;so that one by one they dropped off, until from their regular breathingit was easy to guess that all had surrendered to the heavy hand of sleep.
Those on guard duty were not supposed to move about very much. They hadbeen posted at what might be called the four corners of the camp. Herethey could, between them, about cover all the space around the sink, fortheir positions were on the more elevated ground.
And as the clouds were breaking at the time Paul crawled under thetent, he felt pretty sure that before long they would have theassistance of the moon, now more than half full, and which would notset until after midnight.
Those who were the first on duty fulfilled their part of the programmefaithfully. After standing out their "spell," they proceeded to quietlyawaken those who were scheduled to follow after them. Each fellow knewwho his successor was, and it had been made a part of his duty to seethat this scout was not only awakened, but on the job; after which hehimself could crawl in under his blanket, and take it easy until hissecond turn came, hours later.
Thus Bobolink was one of the second watch. In turn he would have thepleasure of arousing the commander, and seeing that Paul took up hisduty; for in laying out the schedule Paul had not spared himself inthe least.
Bobolink was an imaginative boy. He could see many things that otherswere apt to pass by without discovering anything out of the ordinary. Itwas a weakness which Bobolink had to guard against; lest he discoverthings that had no foundation in fact.
He sat there, listening and looking, for a long time. The music of thebreeze in the tree-tops made him a little nervous at first; but presentlyhe seemed to get more accustomed to the sounds, and then they made himdrowsy, so that he had to take himself sharply to task more than oncebecause his eyes found it so easy to shut.
Wishing to have something to think about, so as to keep his wits aroused,Bobolink began to try and figure out just where his
fellow sentinels werelocated and imagine what they were doing. Could they be struggling, as hewas, to keep awake, one of the hardest things a boy can battle with?
What was that? Surely something moved out yonder among the scrub!
Bobolink sat straight up. He was no longer sleepy. This thing seemed tohave made his eyes fly wide open; and with his heart pumping at atremendous rate, sending the hot blood bounding through his veins, surelyhe was now in no danger of sleeping on his post.
He watched the spot from which the sound had seemingly come. The moonpenetrated the bushes only faintly, because it was now nearing thewestern horizon, its journey for the night almost done. Strive asBobolink might to see whether any one was crawling along there, he couldnot for a time make sure.
Then he detected a movement that must mean something. And at the sametime he discovered what seemed to be twin glowworms in the darkness.
Bobolink had had some little experience in such things, and had read agood deal on the subject. He knew that in the night time the eyes of manywild animals, particularly of the cat tribe, can appear luminous, sothat, seen in a certain kind of gloom, they seem to be like yellowglobes. And that was what these were.
"Huh!" said Bobolink to himself, after he had watched these queer glowingballs of fire move several times, that proved in his mind they must bethe eyes of an animal: "Guess I better give Paul the high sign, and lethim figure out what it is."
And with that he started to creep into the camp, leaving his post forthe time being unguarded; for with three other sentries on dutyBobolink did not imagine there could be any danger in his withdrawingfrom the line.