“Dick Percival,” said Billy, laughing in spite of himself, “if you say a word about it I’ll cut you dead.”

“I can’t help it,” chuckled Dick; “it’s too good to keep, and I won’t keep it, no matter what are the consequences.  Think of a boy who has spent the biggest part of his life in the country not knowing the difference between a little three months’ old heifer calf and a wild bull.  Billy, my boy, you have neglected your opportunities.”

Billy got down from the tree, and all hands laughed again, but Jack said thoughtfully: 

“That was not a wild calf, and the question naturally arises, what is a domesticated calf doing on a supposedly uninhabited island?  If there is a calf there must be a cow and if a cow, then people who own and take care of her.  There must be people on the island after all, although we have never seen them.”

“We have not been all over the island,” said Percival, “and it is likely that in the very parts where we have not been we shall find the people who own the calf.”

“They are probably negroes or halfbreeds,” added Jack, “and seldom visit the shore.  Suppose we keep on.  We may find a village, or, at any rate, one or two houses occupied by them.  Come on, Billy, you are safer with us in case we come across another wild bull.”

“Get out!” said Billy, half laughing, half in disgust.  “How much will you take to keep quiet on that subject?”

“I could not think of making a bargain, Billy,” chuckled Jack, “and then I am afraid it would cost you too much.  Remember, there are myself and Dick, Jesse W. Smith, Bucephalus Johnson and Ben Bowline to be bought off, and the prices might go up.”

“All right,” muttered Billy with a wry face, “but don’t rub it in too much, that’s all.”

“All right, I won’t, but remember when you feel like playing jokes on the boys that I may say something about it.”

“All right, but I say, what about it, that calf is not wild?”

“Not a bit of it, she is just as tame as any barn-yard calf along the Hudson valley.  Calves are the same the world over.”

“And Billy was one not to know it,” said Percival with a grin.  “Remember, William, you have not bought me off yet.  I have made no promises, and neither has Jesse W. Smith.”

“Oh, I don’t care anything about it,” said the smaller boy.  “I won’t say anything about it no matter how much Billy jokes, I am interested in the other matter.  If there are tame calves here there must be more or less civilized people living on the island.”

“Well, we have made two or three very good discoveries on our island,” observed Percival.  “We have found treasure, and we have found calves, and probably inhabitants.”

“And the next thing is to find a way through the reefs,” said Jack.

“If we found the others why should we not find that?” asked Percival.  “We did not expect to find anything, and we have found a lot.”