boys on the mainland didn't turn up a thing," Blake reported.
"They searched from a half mile south of the pier to a half mile
north. No pram anywhere."

Rick snapped his fingers. "I had a hunch they wouldn't! Okay. I'm
going to take off right now and search the coast. If that pram wasn't
connected with the attack on Duke and Jerry, I'll eat it."

"Good luck," Blake said. "Let me know if you need any help."

Rick hurried back to the porch. The JANIG scout team had reported
early in the morning that the pram was gone from the pier. They had
been covering the Whiteside area most of the night, searching for
some sign of the pair that had attacked Rick's friends, but had turned
up nothing suspicious.

Then, at Rick's suggestion, they had undertaken a search for the pram.
His point was simply that he had never seen a pram in the Whiteside
area--something that strangers would not have known. They might have
figured that tying up in plain sight was the best way of hiding their
boat. It would have been, if prams had been more common.

He motioned to Scotty. "Let's go. No sign of the pram."

Barby rose instantly. "Can we go with you?"

Rick considered, then nodded. He could see no objection to taking them
on what could only be a short plane trip.

As they hurried to the plane, Scotty said, "What bothers me is, why
didn't the JANIG team have someone at the landing?"

"They did," Rick replied. "I asked the same question. Their roving
patrol had been by there a short time earlier, but saw nothing
suspicious. After all, they can't post men everywhere. So two of them
take turns keeping watch on the tidal flats, in case anyone tries to
cross from the mainland directly to here. The other two keep moving."

"But it's funny anyone would attack Duke and Jerry," Barby objected.
"It isn't ... well, logical."

Rick grinned. Logic and his sister had never become well acquainted.
He answered, "Suppose the enemy had been keeping track of movements
by water to Spindrift? That isn't farfetched. They could do it easily
without being noticed. Then, late yesterday, they saw two men get in a
boat and come to the island. They were probably watching from cover.
And what did they see?"

Jan answered excitedly, "Jerry, and a man who looked like my father!"

"That's it, Jan. So, if I guess correctly, they waited, hoping the man
they thought was Dr. Morrison would come back. And he did, and they
were waiting."

"Sounds reasonable," Scotty