ROB MAKES A DISCOVERY.
Rob, disconsolate and miserable, passed a bad night, and rose early. As
his captors were still asleep and had, apparently, made no effort to
guard him, he decided to make a tour of the island himself. For one
thing, he was by no means sure that Berghoff had been speaking the truth
when he said that the place was uninhabited; and again he thought that
some form of escape might present itself if only he investigated the
place thoroughly.
So the lad tiptoed out of the camp, first taking the precaution to fill
his pockets with food. He headed straight into the woods, planning to
come out again when he had traveled a safe distance from the camp. He
followed out this idea, pushing his way through the brush for a time,
and then emerging on a strip of white beach that seemed to extend around
the island.
He trudged along, keeping a bright lookout, but saw nothing that would
further his prospects of getting away. All at once, though, as he came
around the other side of the little spot of land, he saw another island
lying at no great distance off. And on the beach of this island was a
boat.
A more welcome sight could not have presented itself to the boy's eyes
just then. It meant that there was somebody on the island,--somebody who
would surely be glad to help out a lad in his predicament.
"But how on earth am I to get over there?" mused the lad. "The tide is
running like a mill race, and I don't know whether I'm a strong enough
swimmer to buck it."
Then another idea occurred to him. Just above him was a small point of
land. By going into the water from the end of this, he would be some
distance above the island he wished to gain, and the current, would,
therefore, carry him down.
"If I only could get a log or something," thought the boy; "it wouldn't
take me long to get over there."
He started to hunt for a log that would suit his requirements; but logs
didn't seem very plentiful in that vicinity. In his search, he reentered
the woods, and after looking about a bit succeeded in finding one that
would just suit his purpose.
Stooping down, he lifted it, and then jumped back with a startled
exclamation. A huge black snake had been coiled under the log, and now
it struck at him, hissing and darting its red tongue in and out, and
showing its vicious fangs!
Before Rob could avoid the creature's attack, it had wrapped itself
around his arm, fastening its fangs into his sleeve.
[Illustration: HE TOPPLED BACKWARD OVER THE BRINK AND PLUNGED DOWN INTO
THE SWIFTLY FLOWING CURRENT BENEATH.]
Rob battled desperately with the reptile, which lashed its tail and
hissed with vicious intonations. The feel of the creature's grip was
loathsome to the boy, and although its fangs had not penetrated his
tough khaki coat, they might do so at any moment.
In the battle Rob backed out of the woods, striving all the time to free
himself, and unconsciously stepped nearer and nearer to the water's
edge. Before he realized his position he toppled backward over the brink
and plunged down into the swiftly flowing current beneath.
Down he went until it seemed he must strike the bottom! But his fall
into the channel had had one good effect. The snake was not gripping his
arm any more. When he shot to the surface he saw it swimming for its
life, but being carried away from the shore.
In fact, the same thing was the case with Rob. The grip of the water
drew him far from the island he had just vacated in such an
unceremonious manner, and hurried him toward the spot of land where
he had seen the boat. Striking out with all his might, the lad fought
the current so as to reach the other island before the water hurried him
past it. It was a hard fight even for a powerful swimmer like Rob. His
clothes encumbered him cruelly, too; but at last, almost exhausted, he
touched bottom and reeled ashore.
For a time he could do nothing but lie there gasping. Had his life
depended on it, he could not have moved hand or foot. But at length his
youthful vitality came to his aid and he rose to his feet to look about
him.
The current had landed him on a part of the beach from which the boat he
had spied was not visible. But he knew in which direction it lay, and
started out for it. As he rounded a small promontory he came upon it, a
heavily-built, rickety-looking old thing, but still a boat.
Rob in his present situation would have taken anything that would
float.
"I'll examine it first and then go hunt up the owner and make a bargain
with him for it," he thought.
With this intention he approached the craft, and the next instant
received one of the cruellest shocks of his life.
The boat was a mere shell, falling to pieces from age and exposure to
the hot sun. It must have been years since she had been used, and Rob's
experienced eye saw that she would have sunk like a stone the instant
she was put in the water. It was a bitter blow to the lad, and for a
time he sank down on the sand, completely knocked out.
But after a time he rallied his spirits.
"After all," he mused, "there may be somebody living on the island and
that boat may be just an old one they have discarded. I'll dry my
clothes and then start out to investigate."
With the drying of his clothes, Rob made an alarming discovery. The food
he had taken was most of it reduced to pulp by its immersion, some
canned goods alone remaining edible.
"That makes it all the more urgent for me to find some aid," he said to
himself; "I don't think that bunch on the motor boat will trouble to
look for me. I guess they'd be glad to leave me here if this is a
deserted island. In that case, I might die here before aid came."
But thrusting all such thoughts as that aside, Rob determined to meet
the situation like a brave Scout.
"I won't give up till I'm at the last ditch," he said to himself with
determination, as he put on his clothes. "I'll fight it out to the end."
Somehow this resolution of his made the boy feel better. With renewed
courage he set out to explore the island. But he made the circuit of it
in vain. There was not a trace to be found of human habitation nor any
indication, except the stranded, sun-dried boat, that anyone but himself
had ever landed there.
So despondent did he feel over this discovery that had he possessed the
strength to do so, he would have swum back to the other island and
thrown himself on the mercy of his recent captors. But this was now out
of the question.
Unless he could find some way out of his dilemma, it looked as if he
would indeed be doomed to leave his bones on those sands. The thought
was a dreadful one, and although it was a warm, almost tropical day, the
boy shivered and cold sweat ran down his face.
If he were indeed to die there, nobody would ever know his fate, in all
probability. He had failed in his mission to recover the papers, too.
Altogether he felt in a very miserable frame of mind. It was in this
mood that, in order to keep his mind off his predicament, more than
anything else, he fell to examining the old boat again. There might be
some way to patch her up, he thought desperately, hoping against hope.
Suddenly he made a discovery that set his heart to beating wildly. On
the stern board of the boat was cut the name "_Good Hope_!"