"Huh! Guess you wouldn't think it funny if you had about twenty-seven hornets after you!" grumbled the younger lad.

"Well, maybe you'll get over playing jokes some day," predicted Frank.

"I didn't suppose it was going to turn out this way," was the dubious answer.

"Well, come aboard now, and we'll get under way," said Frank, trying not to laugh.

A little later, under a spanking breeze, the _Gull_ was standing out for Cliff Island, while the boys peered eagerly forward for the first sight of the bit of land in the big bay which might mean so much to them.

"Are you going to sail straight up to it?" asked Andy after they had covered several miles.

"Well, the best place to drop anchor is in that little inlet on the east side. To get to that we have to sail half way around the island, and I was thinking we might as well make a complete circuit."

"Why?"

"Oh, we might see something of the man, or the boat, and that would give us a line on how to act. After we go around we can tie up in the inlet and row ash.o.r.e. Then we can begin our search."

"I guess that's a good plan," a.s.sented Andy; "Now I'll go get some grub ready and by that time we may sight the island."

It was shortly after the meal, partaken of while the little boat was pitching and tossing on long ground swell, that the younger lad, who had stationed himself in the bow, called out:

"Land ho!"

"Where away?" demanded Frank.

"Dead ahead."

"It's the island, all right," exclaimed Frank. "I laid a straighter course for it than I thought."

In a little while the barren speck loomed up lore plainly. As they approached closer the boys eagerly scanned the sh.o.r.es for a sight of he mysterious man, or the wrecked motor boat. But they saw nothing, even through the powerful gla.s.ses they used.

"Now to tie up and go ash.o.r.e," said Frank, after the circuit was completed. A little later the anchor splashed into the shallow waters of the inlet and the two brothers were rowing ash.o.r.e.

"Look out for yourself, Mr. Mysterious Man!" exclaimed Andy, as he stepped out of the boat. "We're on your trail."

"Bur-r-r-r! It's as desolate as the place where Robinson Crusoe was stranded!" cried Frank, as he looked about.

Overhead gulls were wheeling and circling with noisy cries, but this was the only sign of life on Cliff Island.

CHAPTER XVIII

"THERE HE IS!"

"Well, what's the first thing to be done?" asked Andy, after he had a.s.sisted Frank to pull the boat up on the beach beyond high-water mark.

"There's plenty to do," declared his brother. "In the first place we've got to decide whether we'll stay on sh.o.r.e over night, or sleep on the boat. If we stay on land we've got to bring our grub ash.o.r.e.

Then, the next thing is to map out a plan so we can search the island, and not go over the same ground twice."

"My! You'd think you had done this sort of thing all your life, and had it down to a science," declared Andy with a laugh.

"Well, if it's going to be done at all, it might as well be done right.

This thing is getting serious, and I want to clear it up if possible.

For our sakes as well as for Paul's."

They talked the matter over at some length, and decided that it would be more fun to camp on sh.o.r.e instead of going back and forth to the boat to sleep and eat.

"The weather is warm," said Andy, "and we can sleep out in the open, especially as we have plenty of blankets. And it will be jolly to build a fire on sh.o.r.e and sit around it nights. Just like some old sea pirates. Wow!"

"Easy!" cautioned his brother. "This isn't a joy-picnic. We're here on serious business, and there may be some danger."

"But we might as well have some sport along with it," argued Andy, who could not help seeing the funny or bright side of everything. Frank, though more serious, did not despise a good time by any means, but he went at matters more determinedly than did his brother.

"To my notion, the first thing to do is to go at this search with a system," went on the older lad. "We'll climb up to the top of the cliff, and see if we can make out anything from there. If that man is here he may have set up a camp, and built a fire. If he has, we can easily see it from the cliff. Then we will know where we're at."

To this Andy agreed, and soon they were toiling to the top of the high land that ran lengthwise of the island, roughly dividing it into two parts. It was no easy matter to reach the summit, and several times the boys had to stop for a rest. But finally they were at the goal.

Below them, on all sides, washing the rocky sh.o.r.es of the island were the heaving waters of the great bay. They could take in most of the sh.o.r.e line, irregular and indented as it was, but, look as they did, there was no sign of life.

They saw no curling smoke from a campfire. They saw no figure of a man--the man whom they had so fruitlessly pursued. Nor was there any vestige of a big motor boat half-burned.

"Well, nothing doing so far," remarked Frank, after a pause. "Now we'll go down and begin a circuit of the sh.o.r.e and see what is in some of the caves."

Slipping and sliding over the loose stones and gravel, they reached the bottom of the slope near where they had drawn up their boat. The sight of this craft gave Frank an idea.

"Suppose while we're on one side of the island that man--or someone--should happen to come along?" he suggested. "He'd make off with our boat, sure."

"Probably," agreed Andy. "But we can prevent that."

"How?"

"By hiding the oars. We'll shove 'em under some bushes quite a distance back, so they can't be found."

Frank agreed that this was a good idea, and though there was a chance that someone might land in a motor boat and tow off their rowing craft, still they had to take that risk.

Then began a systematic search of the island. They went along the sh.o.r.e, and looked into many small caves. The interior of these was dark, but they had each provided a pocket portable electric flash lamp, so that they were able to illuminate the caverns.

"Nothing here," announced Frank, after an inspection of the first one.

And that was the result in all the others that they penetrated before dusk. By nightfall they had covered perhaps a quarter of the sh.o.r.e line and then they turned back.

A roaring blaze was kindled on the sand from the plentiful supply of driftwood that strewed the beach, and at the cheerful fire they sat and talked as they ate their supper.

"Jolly fun, isn't it?" asked Andy.

"It sure is, even if we don't discover anything. I wish Paul was along."

"Perhaps it's just as well he's home," commented the younger lad. "I have an idea that this man keeps informed of our movements, and don't fancy having him sneak up on us during the night, which he would be very likely to do if Paul was with us."