"Robinson Crusoe's" Diary
"How in the world did you find that out?"
"Who told you all o' that?"
"Where is your cousin now?"
These questions and others of like character were fired at Hal in rapid
succession, indicating the eagerness of all the members of his audience
for more light on the subject. As for Hal, he was moved by conflicting
emotions, which puzzled his friends considerably at first. He did not
burst forth with a storm of replies, a thing that he might well have done
consistently with boy nature. He seemed to be meditating how to begin, as
if there was so much on his mind he did not know what to say first.
In reality, although this confusion of ideas probably had something to do
with his momentary silence following the storm of questions rained at
him, Hal was much elated with the good fortune that had thrown some
remarkable information into his possession; still, he was deeply
concerned over the possible fate of his cousin. It was the latter
concern, no doubt, that tempered and held in check his jubilation over
his discovery.
"I think, Mr. Perry, you will admit now that there is such a thing as a
mystery," he said.
"Why?" inquired the individual at whom this remark was directed.
"No, I am merely very curious," replied Mr. Perry, with a smile.
"Oh, hurry up, Hal, and tell us what this means," urged Cub impatiently.
"What's the use o' keepin' us guessing all this time. Bud and I'll
admit we're mystified."
"Yes," grinned Mr. Perry; "you'd better hurry up and enlighten us, or
I'll have to drag the secret out of you with mathematics."
"Addition or subtraction," asked Hal.
"Extraction," replied "the man who couldn't be mystified" with
significant emphasis on the "ex".
Laughter followed this quip, the levity of which caused Hal to feel more
like "loosening up".
"Well," said the latter, producing a small leather-back notebook from one
of his pockets; "here is the secret of my information."
"Where did you get that?" Cub demanded.
"I found it."
"Where--not here?"
"Yes, on this island. It's a diary of my cousin, beginning with the time
he was left here by a bunch of college hazers."
"Does it give any hint where he is now, Hal?" inquired Mr. Perry.
"I don't think so," replied the boy with the notebook. "I ran my eye
through it hurriedly, but didn't have time to read it all. If you'll sit
down and listen, I'll read it to you from the beginning."
All being agreeable to this proposition, they seated themselves on camp
chairs in front of the tent and Hal began as follows:
"First, I'll begin by telling you where I found this book. I'll take you
back to the spot after I've finished reading. Before I found this book, I
discovered a sign, or notice, written on a piece of paper and pinned to
the trunk of a tree about four feet from the ground. On that paper was
written with lead pencil these words under date of last Friday:
"'I Alvin Baker, a student at Edwards College, hereby name this island
Friday island, because I was marooned here alone, like Robinson Crusoe,
on Friday, June 9, 1922.'"
"I'd like to make the acquaintance of that boy," said Mr. Perry warmly.
"He has both imagination and a sense of humor in the midst of adversity."
"Naturally I began to look about me for some trace of the person who had
pinned the notice on the tree," Hal continued. "I was standing in an open
space about thirty feet in diameter. The tree on which this notice was
pinned is at the edge of that space. There are a few small bushes here
and there in the open, but the ground there is covered with long coarse
grass. The first thing that attracted my attention, as I began to look
about me was the fact that the grass was trampled down over a
considerable area. I examined it carefully and while doing so found this
notebook in the grass. It didn't take me long after that to reach the
conclusion that Cousin Alvin had been attacked by somebody and in the
struggle lost this notebook out of his pocket."
"It was probably the four ugly looking men he said were coming ashore
when he sent his last distress message to us," Cub inferred.
"I wonder why he didn't tell us the truth," Bud put in. "Why didn't he
tell us he was being hazed by some college boys?"
"He explains that in his diary," Hal replied. "Now listen and I'll read
the first entry."
Hal's injunction being met with quiet, eager attention, he read as
follows:
"Friday, June 9, 1922. Last night while I was walking through the grove
of trees near the campus of Edwards College, I was attacked and
overpowered by several sophomores, who slipped a bag over my head and
carried me to a motor-boat moored a short distance away. They tried to
conceal their identity, but I recognized the voices of Jerry Kerry and
Buck Hardmaster. They kept me a helpless prisoner, with arms and legs
bound and eyes bandaged, in the cabin for several hours, during which I
could feel the boat constantly on the move. About 3 o'clock in the
morning I was carried ashore on this island. My hands were untied, and
then I could hear my captors hurrying away. I removed the bandage from my
eyes and with my pocket-knife cut the rope around my ankles. It was too
dark yet to see anything distinctly, so I had to wait for break of day
before doing anything. An hour later I discovered near the landing place
a considerable layout of supplies and equipment most of which I
recognized as my own property. Then I recalled that one of my captors had
thrust something into one of my pockets just before they took me ashore
and I put my hand into that pocket and drew out an envelope that I knew I
had not put there. In the envelope I found a typewritten note, which read
as follows:
"'Alvin Baker, you have succeeded during all of your freshman year to
date in frustrating every attempt to haze you and have boasted that there
was no "gang" of boys at Edwards smart enough to do the trick. We are now
performing the trick in a manner that ought to convince you that such a
boast is the freshest of freshman folly. We raided your room and took
therefrom your radio sending and receiving outfit, and have added thereto
necessary equipment for erecting an aerial. This we leave with you in
order that you may summon help through the atmosphere. Meanwhile, you may
comfort yourself with the distinction of being the first college freshman
ever given a radio hazing. Now, put up your aerial and send out a message
for help. Radio is your only hope. Nobody ever stops at this island and
it is impossible for passing vessels to see any signal of distress you
may devise. If you are too proud to admit defeat and refuse to send out a
broadcast for help, you must remain here two weeks, at the end of which
time you will be captured again after dark, bound and blindfolded, and
taken back to the mainland and released. The identity of the persons
responsible for your defeat you will never be able to discover. Enough
canned food has been left with you to keep body and soul together a week.
At the end of that time, if you have failed to effect your own rescue by
radio, more canned food will be left here for you. We are leaving also a
tent, a few camp utensils, matches, and fishing tackle. You must drink
river water. Now prove yourself as big as your boast.'
"I decided to defeat those fellows, if possible, by getting away from the
island without broadcasting an admission that I had been marooned by
sophomore hazers. So I pitched the tent and then constructed an aerial
out of material supplied by them and began to broadcast messages of
distress, saying that I had been marooned by river thieves who had stolen
my boat. But soon I found that there was someone 'in the air' who was
determined to defeat this purpose. It is now 11 p.m., and he seems to
have been successful in his attempts to make it appear that I am a faker.
Nobody has offered to come to my rescue."
Saturday's entry in the diary opened as follows:
"Last night, between 2 and 3 a.m., I was awakened by a slight noise
outside near the tent. I stole cautiously to the entrance and peered
out. It was a bright moonlight night and in front of the tent I saw two
men apparently examining the camp with much curiosity or evil intent,
perhaps both. Evidently they saw me watching them, for they suddenly
turned and fled. I followed them cautiously and saw them get into a
power boat and motor away. I called to them, explaining my situation and
offering to pay them if they would take me away from the island, but
they gave me no answer. Probably they were river thieves and the boat
they had was stolen."