Instinctively I hurried out of sight, dragging the rope behind me. I had hardly done so when I heard a yelp, a cry of alarm, and a pistol-shot in quick succession. “There! I reckon you’re done for!” I heard a voice exclaim. “That makes one wolf less on this island. By thunder! I wonder if any of the critters have attacked that boy?” I thought the voice was that of Avery, and I was not mistaken. I saw the flash of a lantern a moment later, and the man stepped into the clearing. “Reuben Stone!” he called. I made no answer, and he gazed carefully about on all sides. “This looks like the spot,” muttered Avery. “Yet if he ain’t here I must have made a mistake, for he couldn’t have got away.” He continued to hunt around until he reached the base of the rocks where I had been captured. “No, this is the right place,” he went on. “Here is the very spot we had the tussle.” “Reuben Stone!” he called out. “If you don’t want to starve to death in these woods you had better answer.” He listened a moment and then repeated his cry. I could not help but wonder what had brought him back, but I was not kept long in suspense. “That boy must know what has become of the boat,” he went on to himself. “He seems to be the only one around.” He paused for a moment more and looked up into the trees. During this time, I fairly held my breath so fearful was I of discovery. At length he passed on, satisfied, I think, that he had made some mistake. I followed, taking good care on this occasion that I should keep a respectable distance in the rear and not make any noise. Avery passed around the spot, and finally came back to it. He seemed both perplexed and chagrined at believing that he had made some mistake. I watched him closely, anxious to know what would be the man’s next move. At last he gave up the search; and with a final call to me to answer, or he would leave me to the fate mentioned before, he set out for the shore. It did not take a great while to reach the spot where he had left his two companions. They were seated on some rocks, and sprang up as he approached. “Well, what did the boy say?” demanded Yates. “Couldn’t find him!” grumbled Avery sullenly. “Couldn’t find Reuben!” ejaculated Mr. Norton. “No. He has got away.” “Impossible!” exclaimed Yates. “I tied”―― “You are always bragging about what you can do,” sneered my guardian. “Now the boy is gone and the deuce is to pay.” “Couldn’t you see anything of him?” went on Yates, who was unwilling to believe what he had heard. “No. He either got away, or else the wolves have made way with him.” This reply brought forth more questions, and Avery had to tell his story. It appeared to disconcert the trio not a little. “Well, if the boy is gone and the boat too, I don’t see what we are going to do about it,” said Mr. Norton. “The neighborhood is getting too hot for us,” added Avery. “I move we build a raft rather than stay here to be captured.”