all right, lookin' for
something; I give you my word I saw it, Thad," Davy declared, crossing
his heart, boy fashion.

"Where was all this happening?" pursued Thad.

"Why, over there on the island!" answered Davy, positively.

CHAPTER XVIII.

THE ALARM.

Davy's words created no end of excitement in the camp of the Boy Scouts.
Every fellow jumped to his feet, and several immediately stepped out so
that they could get a better view of the dark lake. The stars shone
brightly, and gleamed on the tiny wavelets that purled along toward the
beach close by.

Knowing just where the distant island lay, they could manage to locate
it by the inky blur that seemed to settle upon the water at this one
particular spot. But if any one expected to see lanterns moving to and
fro like animated fireflies, they made a sad mistake. It remained as
dark as the inside of a pocket over there.

"Oh! come, what sort of talk were you giving us, Davy?" remarked
Step-hen, in disgust. "I was mighty comfortable lying on my blanket, and
you just thought you'd see how you could stir us up with some fake
news."

"I tell you I _did_ see it!" affirmed Davy, stoutly.

"Say, I know what he glimpsed," remarked Bumpus.

"What was it, then?" asked Step-hen.

"That star hanging low over yonder," the fat boy went on, eagerly; "if a
feller saw it all of a sudden, he might think it moved. And it does look
like a lantern, now, it sure does."

"Think everybody is a booby like,--well, some people, do you, Bumpus?"
demanded Davy, indignantly. "What I saw waved back and forward, just
like I might do, if I wanted to make a signal to somebody over here on
the mainland. Thad, you believe me, don't you?"

Before the scout leader could answer, another took up the argument.

"Boys," said Smithy, "what Davy Jones says is perfectly correct, because
I myself saw some sort of moving light. I just happened to turn my head,
for perhaps Davy said something right then, and it was out there over
the dark water."

"There, what d'ye think of that, Smarty?" demanded Davy, turning on
Step-hen and Bumpus, who were on the same side for once, and about the
only time the others could remember:

"It goes," said Thad, positively. "What Davy told us has now been proven
by a second reliable witness. Then there must have been some sort of
light moving over there on the island. If a light, then a human being,
either boy or man. And that makes me all the more anxious to l