“It’s funny somebody hasn’t picked this place as a site for a summer home,” Mr. Perry remarked as he took a hurried view of his surroundings.

“The trouble is it doesn’t look like a very interesting place from a view out on the river, and there are hundreds of islands to choose from,” said Cub.

“Yes, I suppose so,” his father agreed; “but in my opinion the place deserves a second look-over.  I’m going to keep it in mind as a future prospect.”

“We’ll have to put up a radio station here then,” said Cub.

“Oh, sure, we can’t do without that wherever we go now-a-days,” his father replied.

They skirted the entire shore of the island and found Bud’s suggestion regarding high, steep banks to be true in every quarter.  Not another practical landing place, except with derrick or rope ladder, was discovered.  They estimated the island to be about five acres in extent.

“Well, we haven’t found much evidence yet, indicating that this is the place we were looking for,” Cub remarked as they arrived back at the starting point of their exploration.

“I suppose the next thing for us to do is to explore the interior of the island, and then perhaps we’ll be in a position to form some sort of conclusion,” said Mr. Perry.

“All right, let’s finish this job as soon as possible,” Bud proposed, as he started toward a thicket of bushes and small trees a few yards from the landing place.

All being in harmony with this plan, there was a general move toward the interior.  The thicket, however, proved to be only about twenty feet in depth, and beyond this was a clear area a quarter of an acre in extent.

“Somebody’s had a camp here not many days ago,” Cub announced, as he pressed forward eagerly toward the center of the open area.

“Yes, and a tent has stood right here,” said Mr. Perry, indicating several guy-rope stakes driven in the ground.

“Whoever it was didn’t leave more than a day or two ago,” Hal declared.  “See how the grass is tramped down around here?”

“What’s this?” exclaimed Bud as he ran back toward the thicket through which they had passed and picked up a pole about ten feet long and two inches thick.

Mr. Perry and the other two boys rushed forward and made an eager examination of Bud’s discovery.

“This looks interesting,” said Bud significantly as he called attention to several worn places at both ends and the middle of the pole, as if with iron rings or wire held close around it under a strain.

“There’s another just like this one over there,” cried Hal, suddenly darting forward toward a slender pine tree about a hundred feet away and standing a short distance out from the thicket border of the open area.

Mr. Perry, Cub, and Bud rushed after Hal, who picked up, under the pine tree, a pole almost the exact duplicate of the one found by Bud.  After a careful examination of them both, Mr. Perry announced: