The Argosy, Vol. XXIV, No. 1 — page 74: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

. “i 74 THE BUNKEL MYSTERY. Phin Barkpool says so; and says Andy knocked you into the lake,’’ replied Josh Boole. “It'sa tlie! If Phin, or any other feller says that, Pll knock him out of his boots,’’ returned Tom. ‘‘ My foot slipped, and I fell out of the boat. Andy hain’t seen the end on’t. I’ve been waitin’ for this boat to finish him. I'll lick Andy till there ain’t nothin’ left on him ; and then J’ll chaw him up into sarsingers,’’ concluded Tom, ferociously. Just then the Diana came in sight, and the boat containing the hoodlums started for her. Andy Lamb was running into deadly peril, and the odds were heavily against him. CHAPTER 1V.—THE STRATEGY OF ‘om SAWDER. THE Diana had been around Bunkel Island, and Andy Lamb had carefully examined the shore at every point and opening without seeing a boat, or even a raft upon which a person could cross the strait. He had looked in aniong the trees and rocks as well as he could without discovering a human being. As no one was likely to be on the island without the means of getting to and from the mainland, he was forced to believe, almost against the evidence of his own senses, that he had been mistaken when he thought he saw a man dodge from the shadow of a tree to the shelter of the rocks. ‘‘T was almost sure that I saw a man on the island,”’ said Andy, as the sloop came in sight of the shore where the encounter with T'om Sawder had taken place. ‘‘I saw him move from a tree to the rocks.’’ ‘" How could he get there without a boat ?’’ asked Di. ‘‘ He may have hauled the boat on shore,”’ replied Andy. ‘‘ But I should have seen it if he had.’’ ‘I think you must have been mistaken, Andy,’’ added the fair skipper, with a smile. “Of course I may have been mistaken, Miss Singerlay, and it looks as though I had been.”’ ‘‘ What could any man be doing on the island ?”’ ‘That is more thanI know. If there is a man there; he is taking a great deal of trouble to conceal himself,’’ added Andy, as he again cast his eyes over all that could be seen of the island. Though all the evidence was against him, Andy was not satisfied. He felt so sure he had seen a man—not a boy—that he found it very difficult to accept as conclusive the testimony of the facts. Somehow, the island seemed to be quite different from what it had ever been before, for the question he had been considering had involved it in a sort of mystery. If Tom Sawder had not been there, he would have proposed to go on shore and bring the matter to a positive result. If there was a man there he was concealing himself. Perhaps he was a fugitive from justice, an/escaped convict, or a defaulter keeping himself out of sight. Andy was so much interested in the subject that he was tempted to risk another battle with the chief of the hoodlums in order to find out. =} Gomichbook