"Why?" inquired the individual at whom this remark was directed.

"No, I am merely very curious," replied Mr. Perry, with a smile.

"Oh, hurry up, Hal, and tell us what this means," urged Cub impatiently.
"What's the use o' keepin' us guessing all this time. Bud and I'll
admit we're mystified."

"Yes," grinned Mr. Perry; "you'd better hurry up and enlighten us, or
I'll have to drag the secret out of you with mathematics."

"Addition or subtraction," asked Hal.

"Extraction," replied "the man who couldn't be mystified" with
significant emphasis on the "ex".

Laughter followed this quip, the levity of which caused Hal to feel more
like "loosening up".

"Well," said the latter, producing a small leather-back notebook from one
of his pockets; "here is the secret of my information."

"Where did you get that?" Cub demanded.

"I found it."

"Where--not here?"

"Yes, on this island. It's a diary of my cousin, beginning with the time
he was left here by a bunch of college hazers."

"Does it give any hint where he is now, Hal?" inquired Mr. Perry.

"I don't think so," replied the boy with the notebook. "I ran my eye
through it hurriedly, but didn't have time to read it all. If you'll sit
down and listen, I'll read it to you from the beginning."

All being agreeable to this proposition, they seated themselves on camp
chairs in front of the tent and Hal began as follows:

"First, I'll begin by telling you where I found this book. I'll take you
back to the spot after I've finished reading. Before I found this book, I
discovered a sign, or notice, written on a piece of paper and pinned to
the trunk of a tree about four feet from the ground. On that paper was
written with lead pencil these words under date of last Friday:

"'I Alvin Baker, a student at Edwards College, hereby name this island
Friday island, because I was marooned here alone, like Robinson Crusoe,
on Friday, June 9, 1922.'"

"I'd like to make the acquaintance of that boy," said Mr. Perry warmly.
"He has both imagination and a sense of humor in the midst of adversity."

"Naturally I began to look about me for some trace of the person who had
pinned the notice on the tree," Hal continued. "I was standing in an open
space about thirty feet in diameter. The tree on which this notice was
pinned is at the edge of that space. There are a few small bushes here
and there in the open, but the ground there is covered with long coarse
grass. The first thin