but I am harmless. Why, I wouldn't harm a--a--a lion."

He lighted the pipe and puffed away a few moments, talking a streak
while he smoked. Frank was considering the advisability of pinning him
down and demanding to know his real reason for being there, when, of a
sudden, the little fellow jumped up spryly as a boy, exclaiming:

"This won't do. I must complete my tour of investigation. I must attend
to business. I must look the entire island over and be ready to leave
when that man comes back for me. Young gentlemen, I thank you for your
hospitality. I wish I might stop longer, but, unfortunately, I cannot.
So long, so ling, so lung."

Browning made a move, as if to stop the man, but Frank gave a sign to
let him go. Mr. Cooler scrambled nimbly up the bank, turned and waved
his hand with a flirting motion, and then vanished into the bushes.

"Fellows," spoke Frank, quickly, "I'm going to follow him. I must do it
alone. I'm armed. I can take care of myself. But if I do not return in
an hour, look for me."

Then he sprang up the bank after the mysterious man in gray.

CHAPTER XXIV.

THE WHISPERING GLADE.

Frank had learned the art of trailing from Indian guides in the West,
and, for a white person, he was an expert. As a shadower, he had the
skill of one who had been all his life in the business.

He did not let the man in gray get far away before approaching near
enough so Mr. Cooler could be seen occasionally as he slipped through
the bushes.

But it was not difficult to follow the queer old man, for Cooler did not
seem to imagine for a moment that he was shadowed. He walked swiftly,
puffing away at his pipe, and the smell of burning tobacco came back to
the nostrils of the pursuing lad.

After a little time the man struck the path that runs round the island
and through the old granite quarry. Then he walked still more swiftly,
but Frank also found less trouble in following.

Soon the quarry was reached. Cooler passed straight through this and
struck the track which led down the incline to the sheds near the wharf.

Now Frank was not able to pursue him so closely; he was forced to linger
far behind, for to keep close meant certain discovery should the man
look back.

Still he followed. The track ran through a cut and wound slowly along a
bank, to one side of which lay the water.

Frank reached the cut and saw the man in gray disappear beyond some
bowlders. A moment later Merry was at the bowlde