beside Paul, he let his eyes fall upon the sand.

"What's this, Paul?" he remarked, immediately. "Looks like the prow of a
rowboat had been pulled up here--why, that's a dead certainty, because
look at the plain prints of boots here, and several different kinds,
too. Shows that somebody landed here on the island; and Paul, it must
have been _after_ that rain storm, for these marks don't seem to be
washed, as they would be if the rain had beat down on them. What in the
world d'ye suppose it means? Are there people on this queer old Cedar
Island? If there are, who can they be, and why should they hide from
everybody like this?"

As Jack said this he looked up. Bobolink and Tom were staring at the
plain marks in the sand, with wonderment written on their faces; and even
Paul shook his head.




CHAPTER XIV

TRYING TO FIGURE IT ALL OUT


"We'll have to look into this thing," said Paul, finally, seeing that his
three chums were waiting for an opinion from the one they looked up to as
their leader.

"But what I said was pretty close to the truth; wasn't it, Paul?"
Jack asked.