Dan dropped the canvas, and it came down stiffly and creakingly. Billy trampled it into some sort of a bundle on the main beam of the craft. He grumbled meantime:
“What are you doin’, Dan? We’ll never catch those fellows—never!”
“How about if they’re _here_?” queried Dan.
“We’ll look,” grunted Dan, stamping his feet and trying to slap some life into his numbed hands.
Dan seized his brother’s arm suddenly, and held it tight. “What d’ye know about _that_, Billy?” he asked, pointing with his free hand into the tops of the snow-masked trees above them.
There was a faint, rosy glow just above the tree-tops on the high hogback of the island. This dim, ghostly light was twenty feet above the ground, at least, and all of forty feet above the ice where the two boys stood.
“Isn’t that just about where you thought you saw the smoke that other day?”
“I bet you!” gasped Billy. “A fire in the air,” he repeated.
“No. The reflection in the air of a fire, I grant you,” Dan chuckled.
“But—but——Say, just what d’ye mean, Dan?”
“It means that there is somebody on this island,” Dan said, gravely. “Whether it is that poor dumb chap, or these robbers—or both!—we’ve got to find ’em.”
“But the _Follow Me_ isn’t here,” objected Billy, weakly.
“How do you know?” returned his brother. “Mean to tell me you can see all over this island—into every cove and inlet—from where we stand?”
“Then don’t be foolish, Bill! Maybe the boat isn’t here. But I’m going to find out what that light means——”
“Yep. The fire was so fierce for a minute that its rosy hue reflected on the smoke. We can’t see the smoke now—the snow drives altogether too hard.”
“Crickey, old man!” ejaculated Billy. “We’ll be buried here if we stand much longer.”
Dan started for the higher part of the island at once. It was a rocky, steep ascent, and the snow covering everything made the way more arduous. As they panted along Billy whispered:
“D’ye suppose that dummy and the three men that stole the boat are in cahoots, Dan?”
“Give it up,” returned Dan. “But we’ll find out.”
“Maybe they’ll treat us as badly as they did Old John—if they’re here,” suggested Billy, showing more caution than usual.
“We’ll be careful,” said Dan, in the same low tone. “They won’t be expecting us, I bet!”