Of course Frank never once dreamed that it could be any other than one of the two hoboes. They needed various things, and a boat might be among the number, although evidently they must have had a craft of some sort in order to reach the island in the beginning.

The moon was half hidden among a few floating clouds that hung close to the horizon, but gave plenty of light for them to see what was going on. The bold thief must have been prowling around in the vicinity of the camp, trying to get a chance to make way with something.

Even as they looked he was shoving the canoe in the water. Then he tumbled into it rather awkwardly, which was a pretty good sign that he knew little about balancing in one of the cranky little craft.

“Where are the other boats – get the key to unlock them!” exclaimed Frank.

“I’ve got it right here – this way, fellows!” echoed Bluff.

He was already bending over the bunch of boats consisting of the mate to the stolen craft and the big double canoe.

Frank snatched up a paddle and bounded over to where his comrades knelt. As soon as Bluff threw the chain aside the other snatched up the single canoe, rushed straight to the water’s edge and launched it. All this had taken but a comparatively few seconds to transpire. Indeed, the thief was not fifty feet away at the time Frank threw himself into the other craft.

Bluff and Will drew up on the edge of the water.

“Mind the camp! Get the guns secure! This may be a clever trick to draw attention away from the tents! I’ll take care of the thief, fellows!”

Frank’s voice boomed over the lake. Already he was sending his paddle deep into the water, and urging his frail craft onward with constantly increasing speed.

“He’s right. We must guard the camp! This way, Will – pick up Frank’s gun, and keep watch. We can have one eye on the lake and the other here!” called Bluff, who was quick to catch on to a thing once he heard it.

So they stood there on the border, each making quick turns of the head in order to see all that went on.

If any thief entered that camp just then, calculating on having a clear field for his operations, he was likely to soon regret his temerity, for the boys were tremendously aroused, and Bluff had an impetuous nature.

Meanwhile Frank was pushing onward with furious zeal.

He could see that he was gaining with every stroke. The occupant of the other canoe seemed to be paddling desperately, but he evidently did not know just how to get the best results from his labor. His craft wobbled considerably; that is, it headed from one side to the other.

As a result Frank was rapidly overcoming the distance that had in the start separated him from the unknown.

He anticipated that at the last the other would try and turn to the shore with the idea of making a hurried landing. In order to cut him off from such safety Frank kept in-shore, where he could interpose should the enemy try that game.

“I’ve got him!” was what he was saying to himself, over and over.

The thought gave the boy a fierce satisfaction. He now began to wonder just how he was going to recover the boat. Would the rascal dive overboard at the last, or put up a desperate fight to retain possession of his prize?

Frank held to the belief that it was one of the hoboes. That meant he would find himself opposed to a man accustomed to defying the law and ready to commit even a crime in order to retain his liberty.

“He’s a coward, anyhow, or he wouldn’t run that way,” he assured himself, as he worked harder than ever at the paddle.

Now he was close upon the other. Too late the thief tried to head shoreward, and escape in that way. Frank saw his opportunity to cut him off; and again the race started straightaway over the moonlit lake.

Those on the shore at the camp could no longer see the rival canoes. The moonlight was deceptive; and, besides, the fiercely paddling twain had turned the point.

But a new light of a fire had dawned upon the vision of Frank, which he knew came from the camp of the Peters crowd; for the boys had, of course, told him about the arrival of these rough customers on the island.

“I declare, I believe it must be one of that lot, and not the tramp after all,” he muttered, as he again cut the other off from heading ashore.

This put a new face on matters.

He no longer hesitated about coming to conclusions with the thief. If, after all, it was but a boy like himself, he could not meet him any too soon to satisfy his desires.

Observing the fellow’s manner more closely now, he was not long in determining upon his identity.

“It’s Pet Peters himself. And he’s getting worried to know just what he’s going to do to save himself and the stolen canoe, too. I’d better end this agony with a rush, and here goes!”

So saying, he now headed directly for the other craft, rushing forward with furious speed that gave the finishing touch to the alarm of the pursued one.

In vain had Pet tried to outwit him; he had been caught every time, and forced to keep in the open. Even when he attempted to hold his own straight ahead it was to see the distance cut down steadily.

Before now he had tried conclusions with Frank Langdon, nor was he hankering after a repetition of his previous experiences. The memory of sundry bruises had never entirely left him; and it looked as though the other might be more angry on this occasion than ever before.

“Hold up there, you thief! I’ve got you cornered!” called Frank, as he pushed still nearer.

Pet ceased paddling. After all it was just as well, for he had lost hope of evading this persistent pursuer in the race.

He clutched his spruce paddle fiercely in his hands. If it came to the worst he could perhaps use the same as a weapon of defense. It had failed him in its legitimate channels, but could he give the other one smart blow on the head with its edge, no doubt Frank must be put out of the running.

And Pet Peters had no scruples on the score of delicacy. He was accustomed to rough methods of carrying his point. A blow on the head usually concluded any argument in which he might be engaged.

“Keep back, you!” he yelled.

Frank saw that he was now standing rather unsteadily in the canoe. He smiled grimly, for he knew that the game was in his hands. Any fellow who is so foolish as to stand upright in so frail a vessel places himself in a position where he is apt to receive a sudden and unexpected bath.

Frank was still advancing in a line as though he calculated to come alongside the other boat. That was evidently just what the bully expected him to do, and to meet which anticipated emergency he was now, as he thought, fully prepared.

“Get out of that boat, and in a hurry, you!” cried Frank.

He was speaking more to hold the attention of Pet than because he expected the other to obey him.

“Keep back, I tell yuh, Langdon, er it’ll be the worse for yuh!” bellowed the other, at the same time making several vicious sweeps through the air with his poised paddle, as if to emphasize his pugnacious intentions.

The act came very nearly being his undoing, for he staggered and had to even make a quick clutch at the gunwale of the canoe to keep his balance.

Frank saw his chance. He was by this time close enough to put his little scheme into practice. That canoe had to be recovered one way or another. If Pet refused to surrender his ill-gotten plunder peaceably, then it was high time other measures were brought into play.

With a sudden turn Frank headed his boat straight at the side of the other. He meant at the last instant to turn far enough to give but a slanting blow, not desiring to injure the second canoe by smashing in the delicate ribs.

Too late did Pet realize how completely he had placed himself in the power of his more expert adversary, who had handled canoes so long that he was perfectly at home in one.

“Hey, you, keep away!”

It was the despairing wail of a quitter. Even before the prow of Frank’s craft was in collision with the side of his own, Pet knew that he was about to experience a tremendous shock against which he would be given no chance to prepare himself.

In his sudden terror his first act was to let fall the paddle which he had intended to use in knocking Frank out. Then he tried to get hold of both gunwales, so as to brace himself against the shock.

It was too late, however. A second more and he might have done something, but by that little space of time he lost.

Bang! came the stem of Frank’s canoe against the second boat, which was tilted half way over under the impact. Pet Peters took a headlong plunge over the side and disappeared under the moonlit waters of the lake with a tremendous splash!

CHAPTER XII – DOWN THE SLOPE

Frank laughed. He really could not help it, the sight of Pet going overboard with such a great tossing of arms and legs was so comical. But at the same time he did not forget to reach over and reclaim the floating paddle.

He was already holding on to the recovered boat, when, with a great splurge and splashing, Pet appeared on the surface of the water, swimming as well as his clothes would permit. Fortunately the fellow was a regular water-dog, and able to easily sustain himself under any circumstances when in the lake; though doubtless he found his bath rather cold at this early season of the year.

“Think yuh done sumpin smart, I reckon, Langdon! I’ll get even with yuh for it, see if I don’t!” he snorted, sustaining himself by vigorous strokes.

“Better get ashore before your clothes drag you down. Do your blowing afterwards, Peters. You’re a thief, that’s all, and ought to be landed behind the bars for such work as this. Go on, now, before I get real mad and chase you ashore.”

Possibly the fellow feared that Frank might take a notion to do as he threatened, for he had a healthy respect concerning the other’s prowess. At any rate he started to swim away with lusty strokes. One might have thought a bear was in the water, such was the noise he made.

Frank found the painter of the recovered canoe. This he fastened to a cleat, and then, making a turn, headed back to the camp.

Those who were anxiously listening caught a glimpse of the two boats as they turned the point.

“He’s got it back all right!” cried Will, in excitement.

“Bully for Frank! He’s equal to the whole Peters crowd!” called Bluff; from which it could easily be understood that neither of these boys had been in any doubt as to whom they had to thank for the stealing of the boat.

Frank landed in a few minutes. Beyond breathing a little harder than usual he showed no signs of his recent chase.

“This time we’ll make sure that all the boats are fast. It was a bad break for you to leave that one loose. But we have had so many strange things happen since we landed on Wildcat Island that a fellow can hardly be blamed for letting a cog slip occasionally. Lend a hand, Bluff,” said Frank.

That was his way. He realized that no one could be perfect, that he sometimes made mistakes himself, and others should be forgiven if they occasionally neglected to do the things that were expected of them.

And that was the secret of why the other fellows all admired Frank above any of their companions: he could forgive another’s fault, but was very severe with himself when he happened to fall short.

They secured the boats and carried the paddles into camp.

Will seemed inconsolable. He had heard that tremendous splash, and already understood what had caused it.

“Oh! if I could only have caught that fellow just in the act of taking that header, what a beaut it would have been. Too bad that such glorious chances escape me all the time,” he moaned.

But the others had too serious a problem to consider to pay much attention to the complaints of the amateur photographer.

“How about going to Centerville?” asked Bluff, as they sat there near the revived camp fire to talk it over.

“That can wait a while. Plenty of time between now and morning, Bluff,” answered the one addressed, as he poked the fire reflectively.

“But you’ve got something on your mind,” argued Bluff, shrewdly.

“What makes you think that?” demanded Frank, smiling.

“I can see it in your eyes; they give you away. So let’s hear what it is, for you see we’re all equally interested,” replied his chum, eagerly.

“Well, of course it’s about Jerry,” began Frank.

“That goes without saying. You’re not thinking of starting out in the night to make another hunt for him, are you?” demanded Will, arousing to the fact that perhaps he might be left alone in camp, and under the circumstances he would not enjoy that very much.

“Somehow a new idea has flashed into my head. I don’t know that there is anything to it, but somehow I’m unable to dismiss it. The fact of Pet Peters being bold enough to sneak up here and try to make way with one of our canoes gave me this thought,” said Frank.

“Go on, please,” urged Will, while Bluff awaited the disclosure with equal anxiety.

“Perhaps those fellows are responsible for Jerry’s disappearance!”

“What! the Peters crowd? Strange that none of us thought of that before,” declared Bluff.

“Then you agree with me that there is a chance that way?” asked Frank.

“I wouldn’t put it past them a minute,” replied Bluff.

“But what would they want with him? They’re not so desperate as the hoboes, and, besides, you remember that Mr. Dodd warned them he meant to run the lot in if they kept pestering us,” ventured Will.

“Oh! that was away last Fall. Those fellows have forgotten all about that by this time. Frank, I’m inclined to agree with you. In that case, what had we better do? Take the guns and make a sudden attack on their camp?”

Bluff, always ready for trouble, reached out his hand toward Jerry’s gun as he spoke, showing his willingness to follow up his suggestion by immediate action.

“Not so fast, my hearty. If we attacked their camp and then found that they had nothing to do with Jerry’s kidnapping we’d be in a nice pickle, wouldn’t we? After that they could say we were a lot of savages, as well as they.”

“But something should be done!” expostulated Bluff.

“And I propose to do it. In other words I mean to take a little stroll around the point, and see what their camp looks like,” remarked Frank, rising.

“If you find they’ve got our chum, promise to come back for us. We want to have a hand in bringing about his release. You will, won’t you, Frank?” asked Bluff.

“I promise you, boys. Keep Jerry’s gun with you, and stay on guard. Don’t shoot in a hurry, because you might pepper me, and that’s something I object to. Now I’m off.”

“Good luck to you, Frank, and take care of yourself,” said Will.

Frank made his way into the brush. He could have approached the other camp with far less trouble had he chosen to keep along the edge of the water. It struck him, however, that the enemy might anticipate a raid of some sort after their recent miserable attempt to cripple the members of the Rod, Gun and Camera Club in their resources, and be on the watch for stragglers along the beach.

They would possibly not dream that any one would take all the trouble to push through the dense brush, and climb the hill, at the base of which they had squatted upon landing.

Frank was in no hurry. He knew that Pet’s companions would be all excited over his bedraggled condition when he reached shore. Still, it was hardly probable that they would venture to take up the cudgels, and attempt any more mischief, that night at least.

He remembered what a healthy respect these fellows entertained for the guns in the possession of the club members. They were more apt to take it out in making all manner of tremendous plans against the peace of the campers which they would hardly be likely to carry out when their anger had had a chance to cool.

As he drew near the place, Frank found that a little hill interposed, just as the abrupt bluff did in the case of their own camp. This he would have to climb ere he could look down upon those he had come to observe.

There was more or less difficulty in reaching the top of this little elevation.

“They must go around here when entering the woods,” Frank concluded, after he had finally gained the top of the rise.

He hardly liked the idea of returning along the same difficult lines; but when he felt this disinclination he was really worrying over something that was fated never to come about.

By degrees he pushed forward until he found himself on the edge of a little declivity. Down below he could see the old dingy tent which he knew so well, also the fire of the Peters crowd.

The boys were gathered around, watching Pet, partly disrobed, trying to warm himself near the blaze; but if he was shivering outwardly with the cold, he seemed to be burning within, to judge from the motions he made while talking.

“Evidently Pet is making a vow to settle my hash the first time we meet. But I don’t seem to be trembling, that I can discover. I know Pet of old, and how easy he can change his mind,” Frank told himself, as he watched.

Unable to see just as well as he wished from where he first knelt, he moved a little to the left, as that seemed to promise a better view.

It was the last straw upon the camel’s back. Already, though Frank did not know it, the treacherous soil was giving way under his weight, and this move on his part aggravated the trouble.

He felt himself slipping, tried to catch hold of a nearby bush, which gave way in his frenzied grasp, and down the steep incline he plunged!

CHAPTER XIII – THE WILD MAN DEVELOPS AN APPETITE

“Great smoke! what’s that?”

“It’s the wild man, fellers!”

“Run, afore he gits yuh!”

There was an immediate scramble among the adherents of Pet Peters. What they had heard about the wild man of the island had kept them on edge throughout the entire length of their short sojourn; and now, when this sudden object came rolling down the incline into their very camp they were panic stricken.

Pet himself was just as frightened as any of his mates. He had been sitting by the fire, drying his back, having removed his coat and trousers meanwhile. As the alarm sounded he tried to get to his feet so as to join in the hasty flight, but, as might be expected, his legs became twisted, and consequently he fell in a heap.

“Wow! keep off’n me, you! I ain’t done nuthin’!” he yelled.

It was his customary plea when caught doing something wrong.

Frank had by this time reached the bottom of the incline, for which he was not at all sorry. He had not been seriously hurt by his rough tumble, and, thinking only of keeping himself aloof from these ugly spirits, he managed to scramble to his feet after some fashion.

Through it all he had kept a firm grip on his gun, as though he knew what protection he could count on from that source.

There was another grand picture that escaped Will, and which he would never cease to lament the loss of – Frank regaining his feet, those fellows scampering away in several directions, and Pet on his knees, holding one arm up as if to ward off some evil blow which he expected to descend.

“Hey, it’s only Langdon! Kim back here, yuh cowards!” bellowed Pet, as soon as his startled eyes could tell him the truth.

And the others, halted in the midst of their mad flight, looking back, saw that instead of the terrible hairy wild man of their dreams it was indeed only a boy who stood there, and he the one they hated most of all.

So they came straggling back, some looking sheepish over their recent scare, while others scowled as if in an ugly temper.

“Wot yuh want here, Langdon?” demanded Pet, bridling up as he saw that much was expected of him by his followers.

It was unfortunate that this should happen so soon after he had been making such enormous threats about what he was going to do to Frank when next they met.

What could a fellow do anyway when he was minus his coat and trousers, as well as shoes?

Frank had recovered his lost breath by now.

“Well, I might have strolled over here just to ask whether you had arrived safely after your swim; and to express a hope that you might not take cold. It’s pretty early in the season to go in, you know,” he said smoothly.

The others looked at each other as if they hardly knew what to make of it. Somehow this Langdon always did seem to have the advantage whenever they came face to face. In the canoe he was Pet’s master, because he felt quite at home there, while the other did not. Now, here ashore, he held something in his hands which none of them liked the looks of – a double-barreled shotgun.

“Aw, go chase yerself! ’Twan’t that as fetched yuh here. Think we scooped sumpin, an’ yuh come sneakin’ round tryin’ tuh see,” snarled the shivering Pet.

“Come up to the fire and keep warm. It’s your fire; I don’t lay any claim to it. Perhaps you fellows think I slid down that toboggan track on purpose? Well, you’ve got another guess coming, then. I have more respect for my clothes than to try such things, as a rule.”

Frank was talking for a purpose. He did not expect to enter the camp of the enemy when he parted from Will and Bluff; but now that circumstances beyond his control had caused such a move on his part, he meant to take full advantage of it.

Before he left, he expected to know positively what they had in that tent. If Jerry was found there, a prisoner, he must be set free, no matter what happened after such a move.

So, as he talked he kept moving a little at a time in the direction of the said tent. If the others noticed his action they could not give any sort of guess as to what he was after. Besides, he kept that gun always half raised, and moving back and forth, from side to side, so that it covered the entire bunch.

“Jest yuh make tracks outen here, Langdon. Yuh ain’t wanted, see? This here’s our camp, an’ yer intrudin’,” chattered Pet, who was compelled to creep closer to the fire, for he was shivering as though he had the ague.

“Oh! I’m going right away, boys. I assure you I haven’t the least intention of staying and putting you to any inconvenience. Just a little social call, you understand, Pet. I couldn’t bear the thought that possibly you were still floundering around out there on the lake. Glad to know you arrived,” Frank continued, now close to the flap of the tent.

The others had unconsciously followed him, so that with the exception of Pet the whole of the camp’s inmates were clustered just in front of the intruder.

As he uttered the last word, Frank suddenly stooped. He had seen his chance, and meant to investigate the interior of that tent.

To his dismay it was far from light inside. He could just make out objects dimly. There might be a prostrate figure on some of the dirty blankets strewing the ground, for all he could say.

Determined to make sure, he immediately darted inside the tent. A chorus of excited exclamations arose from the half circle of roughs outside.

“He’s a-goin’ ter steal our blankets, that’s what!” shouted one.

“Don’t let him, fellers!” whooped Pet, dancing from one bare foot to the other in his excitement, but not offering to lend a hand in corralling the intruder.

“Hey, you, wot yer want in there?” howled another, looking around for a cudgel that might come in handy.

Then Frank emerged. He still kept his handy gun in evidence, seeing which the others backed away again, not being quite so eager as they imagined to come to hand-grips with this determined boy.

Frank was disappointed. He had failed to find the slightest trace of his missing chum in the tent of the Peters crowd. This seemed to prove that they knew nothing about the kidnapping of Jerry.

Under the circumstances he thought it might be just as well to explain his queer move a little. The knowledge might hasten the departure of these rowdy fellows, and purge the island of their presence.

“I’ll tell you what I was looking for. One of my chums has strangely disappeared, and we thought that perhaps you had him here. That’s all. But I find you haven’t; which makes me believe he’s fallen into the hands of that wild man, or else the two hobo thieves who robbed the man on the steamboat; because we happen to know they’re here on this island.”

“Wot’s that?” demanded Pet, anxiously.

“Why, you heard about the two tramps on the Eastern Star, didn’t you?”

“Yuh mean the fellers as collared the roll o’ Mister Pemberton?” asked Pet, forgetting to even shiver, in his new excitement.

“Yes, and they’re here on this island right now, hungry and desperate,” continued Frank, thinking it good policy to rub it in good and hard while he was about it.

“Here on this yer island – them desperadoes are?” gasped one.

“That’s easy to say, Langdon; but how d’ye know?” demanded Pet.

“Well, we’ve seen them, for one thing. Then they robbed us of a kettle with our supper last night. Let a cord down from the top of the cliff, and caught the bale of the kettle with a hook. First thing we knew, our supper was sailing up, and that was the last we ever saw of it,” replied Frank, now beginning to edge toward the beach, as he had suddenly decided to return by an easier path than the one he had taken in coming.

Then the boys looked at each other uneasily.

“A wild man loose here; an’ now them two desperate critters huntin’ round fur anythin’ loose. Say, fellers, it’s up ter us ter git outen this in the mornin’,” said Pet, shaking his head with determination.

And not one of his mates lifted his voice, even in a whisper, contrarywise. Indeed, to tell the truth, they looked as though the hours that must elapse ere they departed hence would fairly drag along.

Frank, believing that he had reached a point where he could boldly make his exit from the hostile camp, was just in the act of backing away when he saw something that gave him a shock.

“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!