Frank Honeywell

“ This rapid-fire succession of questions was hurled by Cub at Hal and Bud as they approached the place where Mr. Baker was quizzing his prisoner under the protection of the boy sentinel against a surprise attack from the prisoner's friends. Some of these questions were encouraged by nods and smiles of assent to preceding interrogatories.
"Yes, yes, but one question at a time," Hal replied. "You're on the right track, Cub, but that isn't the way to get our story out of us. I see you have one of the rascals a prisoner. Keep him. He's the worst of the bunch." ”

“ CHAPTER I Vacation Plans
"Now, fellows, what are we goin' to do this vacation?" demanded Cub Perry as he leaned back in his upholstered reed rocker and hoisted his size 8 shoes onto the foot of his bedstead. "School's all over, we've all passed our exams, and now we've got a long vacation before us with nothing to do. It's up to yo-uns to map out a program."
"Why can't you help map it out?" asked Bud Taylor with something of a challenge in his voice. "You always have the last word?"
"Cub's the dictator of our outfit, and we do the work, that's why," declared Hal Stone. ”

“ The next instant the "island prisoner" broke in thus:
"Hurry; they are after me. I think they are the ones who marooned me here. Their boat looks like yours, I guess."
"See!" exclaimed Bud. "This makes things look bad. If those fellows are robbers they're armed. We haven't a gun on board, and if we had we wouldn't want to get in a fight over an affair that looks more like a joke than a tragedy."
"And yet it may be a tragedy," said Hal.
At this moment Cub reappeared in the cabin and the situation was explained to him. ”

“ Two or three amateurs looked me up under the name, call, and address that I gave and then broadcast a denunciation of me. It begins to look as if my hazers are going to win a full revenge for the way I laughed at them at college. This day's experience has convinced me that I am in bad throughout the radio atmosphere. ”

“ He makes everybody think I'm putting up a prank."
"Where is your island?" asked Cub.
"Somewhere in the Thousand Islands. That's the best I can locate it. I've never been here before. Where are you?"
"At Oswego, New York."
"What's your call?"
"A V L." "Can you do anything for me?"
"I don't know what I can do unless I try to interest somebody near you by wireless. I'll send out a broadcast in any manner you may suggest. But you can do that just as well as I."
"I have done it over and over, but it does not do any good," said "Crusoe". "That evil genius of mine always manages to queer me. ”

“ Bud replied in cautious tone. "I heard them talking about us. But keep your voice low, for this island is small and they may hear you."
"I was going to remark that this is a small island to contain much of a hiding place for anybody."
"Yes, but it's wild with bushes. And these men are bad fellows, I could tell from the way they talked about us. They're as mad as hops 'cause we're here. They're studying how to get rid of us without making more trouble for themselves."
"That's funny," Hal remarked. "Why should they care if we're here? Do they claim they own this island?" ”

“ No, I don't believe there are many criminals among radio fans and college students."
"College students!"
"Say, 'Bill Howard', don't try to play the innocent to a fellow who's been listening-in to your unconscious confessions ever since you began to talk in your sleep," Hal scoffed with well simulated disgust. "I know well enough who you are. You're one of the sophomores of Edward's College who hazed Alvin Baker by marooning him on that island where his cousin shot you with a slingshot." ”

“ Cub announced.
"That's pretty good progress, I must say," Bud declared; "but here's a new question to get us into trouble again."
"Oh, for goodness sake, don't," pleaded Cub. "You've had your example of what my mathematical dad can do with such foolish creatures."
"Let him express his doubt," suggested Mr. Perry with a smile; "for, if a man must doubt, he'd better shout than smother his ideas in a skeptic pout."
"Yes, get it off your chest, Bud, and then take your medicine," advised Hal.
"Well, suppose we find the island and nobody there, how are we going to know it's the right one?" ”

“ Finally I got so desperate that I sent out an SOS."
"And committed a radio crime," broke in the alleged evil genius. "Don't you know the rules governing that distress signal?"
"There he is again," "Crusoe" dot-and-dashed.
"Who are you?" demanded Cub.
"I am Canadian amateur," was the reply. "That fellow who sent the distress signal is a Canadian college student trying to put over a college prank. I am on his trail to prevent him. We have a wager up; if he induces anybody to go to his rescue, I lose."
"That is not true," interposed the sender of the SOS.
"What is your call?" Cub inquired. ”

“ Hal replied.
"Where'd your friends go?" continued the spokesman with a leer that caused the two boys to shrink back a step or two.
"They just took a trip in the motor boat," replied Hal cautiously.
"They'll be back soon."
"Oh, they will, eh," leered the man as if he penetrated the weakness of the warning in the boy's answer. "How many are they of your friends?"
"More than we are," replied Hal, having reference to physical size of Mr.
Perry and Cub.
"Oh, come now, kids, tell us the truth," ordered the leering spokesman, advancing a pace nearer. ”

“ Bud suggested, without any seriousness of intent, however. "Make a dash over the lake in your father's motor boat and rescue this Robinson Crusoe."
"By Jiminie, Bud!" exclaimed Cub enthusiastically! "You've hit the nail on the head. Our vacation problem is solved. That's what we'll do, all of us. I don't care whether it's a joke or a tragedy; we'll make a voyage of discovery over that way and see if we can't find Crusoe's island. What say you, fellows?" ”

“ No, sir!" Cub emphasized. "It's a dandy adventure, whatever the result. I didn't swallow that Crusoe story whole at any time."
"Neither did I," said Hal.
"I thought there were some funny things about it," Bud announced reflectively; "but I didn't know how to put them together or take 'em apart."
"That was my fix," said Cub; "and it's my fix yet."
"I guess we all agree that the whole affair is very strange," Hal concluded. "We really don't believe we've been told the truth, and yet we get in worse trouble when we try to make something else out of it." ”

“ Perry. "But you have a dandy field to work on. All you need is a little imagination; then begin to do a little head-work, and before you know it you'll have a lead to work on. And let me add something more. There are two things in this world, which, working together, can knock a mystery into a cocked hat more successfully than anything else in the world that I know of."
"I bet I know what they are," Cub volunteered, eagerly.
"Mathematics and imagination," almost shouted Hal in a wild scramble of mind to beat Cub with the answer. ”

“ He knew that some animal, human or otherwise, was eyeing the camp with studied interest, and it was difficult to imagine other than a human being capable of such interest.
Bud finally came to the conclusion that the animal half hidden in the shadow of the bushes was a man, and that the latter's interest was centered in "Captain" Howard, whom he doubtless believed to be held prisoner within the four canvas walls of the tent.
"I bet he's one of those four men that took Hal and me and marooned us on that other island," the boy mused. ”

“ Hal volunteered.
"All right," Bud agreed. "You act as chairman, Mr. Perry."
"I am elected by Bud, there being no opposition," announced the owner of the Catwhisker. "Now, what is the question, Hal?"
"I'll put it this way," the latter replied: "Resolved, that mathematics is more useful to a detective than a flashlight or a skeleton key."
"That isn't half-bad at all," declared Cub in the midst of general laughter and applause. "The main trouble is that we can't find anybody on this island to take the other side of the question." ”

“ Arrived at the open area where Hal had found his cousin's "Crusoe diary", the three boys and Mr. Perry began a careful examination of the surroundings for further evidence that might throw light on the strange affair, which, for the time at least, appeared to defy the mystery scoffer's "mathematics".
First they scrutinized every foot of ground where the grass had been trampled so violently, it seemed, as to suggest a physical combat. ”

“ Cub felt an impulse to brand this new affair as the most puzzling mystery that had yet confronted them, but he checked the utterance wisely enough as entirely too facetious for the occasion.
"We've got to get the authorities busy on this case," Mr. Perry added after a few moments' hesitation. "We may be sure now that it's more than a hazing affair. There must be a retreat of some bad men around here somewhere." ”

“ Hal demanded.
"Yes, Bud, it's pretty far fetched," ruled the dominating Cub. "You'll have to think up an answer to your conundrum before we can consider it. Why should a college freshman be hazed in the manner that Mr. Baker's son was hazed just so that some men, confederates of the hazers, could kidnap him? And then why should one of the hazers work the kind of game that that mysterious fellow worked to checkmate us in this rescue trip of ours if the purpose was just to kidnap Mr. Baker's son, after all? The sophomores had to kidnap him in the first place. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Hal needed no second bidding and soon he was busy with coil and detector. Cub's "weather report" proved to be accurate, for in a few moments he announced:
"Here's Schenectady, New York, with some opera."
Over went the switch and with the move came a hornful of vocal resonance. They listened eagerly to the end of the program and then Hal began to tune about for "something else doing" in the ether. Presently he "straightened up" in an attitude of close attention, and his radio friends all realized that he had found something of more than ordinary interest. ”

“ The prisoner fixed his eyes on the ground and said nothing.
"The trouble is, you haven't done your wife's grocery shopping, or you could tell a more plausible string of lies," Mr. Buckley commented. "Now, let me tell you this: It's been a long time since you saw the inside of a grocery store."
"If you don't want to believe me, it's up to you," snarled the prisoner.
"Now, Mr. Howard," the inquisitor continued, "your friends, I am told, addressed you as Captain. Why was that?"
This query stimulated a little brilliance in the fellow.
"I run a grocery boat on the river," he said. ”

“ The other boys sprang forward with exclamations of wonder, Bud and Cub donning the other two phone head-pieces.
"Shall I give him the information?" Hal asked a few moments later, turning to Mr. Perry.
"Whom is he talking to?" the latter inquired.
"Some Canadian amateur who's been listening in to us a good deal of the time."
"I don't see why you shouldn't tell him everything, Mr. Perry. He's a reporter, isn't he?"
"Yes, I think he has his own private set and he's looking for a big scoop."
"Give it to him, by all means," Mr. Perry directed heartily. ”

“ 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. ”