Chapter XXIX: Clearing Up the Mystery

“Feel like coming with me this morning, Leslie?” asked Dick, after one party had set off to fill the pails with berries, and while another group was busy catching minnows for bait, as the supply had got somewhat low in the reservoir where the bait was kept.

“Count on me if Mr. Bartlett is willing,” laughed Leslie Capes. “And I say that without even asking what’s in the wind. I know that when you get an idea in your head it’s generally worth something.”

“Listen,” said Dick. “When I saw that well-trodden trail the gorilla had made you remember I remarked that it must lead to the place he’d been using for his den. Now that the old fellow is safe, and there’s no danger of meeting him on the way, I’m thinking of taking a look-in on his home.”

Leslie was interested immediately.

“Thank you then for selecting me to go along, Dick,” he cried.

“Just as if you weren’t always first choice with me, old fellow,” returned Dick. “But honest, I’m curious to find out what sort of place the wily old beast picked out for his den. More than likely we’ll never know how he got across to this island; but we can find out what he’s done here in these months since he broke away from the circus in that storm.”

“And,” continued Leslie, “I rather think you hope we may be lucky enough to find some of the many things the thieving rascal has made away with, not only from our camp, but from that of the sporting party up here for the fly-fishing earlier in the summer.”

Dick nodded his head in the affirmative.

“There’s no telling,” he admitted. “Though perhaps we’d better not count our chickens before they’re hatched. Even if we find nothing, it’ll be interesting to follow that path made by the feet of the gorilla.”

“Sure it will,” agreed Leslie, “now that we know where the old gent is stopping temporarily. If he were foot-free nothing could tempt me to meander in that quarter, and take chances of meeting him face to face in the brush, where running would be a hard job. Whee!”

He shrugged his shoulders to add emphasis to his words, and Dick evidently quite agreed with his partner, to judge from the look on his face.

Some time later on the pair found themselves in that part of the big island so well remembered by Dick as the scene of his panic of the former day. They caught the sound of voices near by, and understood from this that Eddie Grant and the other pickers had concluded to visit that rich harvest field, now that all danger had been removed.

“No need of their knowing we’re around as yet,” whispered Dick. “So come along over this way, for that’s where I struck the well-worn trail.”

He had made no mistake, Leslie soon learned. Even though so soon afterwards compelled to fly for his life, Dick had noted the ground, and a few minutes later he was pointing down at his feet.

Both boys examined the earth with interest, but their curiosity was so great that they did not care to linger long. Following that plain trail was the easiest kind of work, for the gorilla had not attempted to “blind” it in the least.

At the end the boys reached a sort of strange shelter undoubtedly made by the Borneo man-monkey. It was fashioned from branches, and matted in such a clever way that the boys declared it would shed water as well as any thatched roof they had ever seen.

“I never dreamed a gorilla could do such work as this,” Leslie said, as they stood and examined the shelter.

“Oh!” explained Dick, quickly, “from what I’ve read about them, over in Borneo, where they mostly come from, they have their homes in trees and make many such shelters so the baby gorillas can be kept dry when the tropical rains come on.”

“Well,” continued the wondering Leslie, “it seems that this old fellow hadn’t forgotten the lessons of his younger years, even if he was shut up in a cage for goodness knows how long.”

“That can be set down as the instinct,” said Dick, “which animals and birds have in place of the reasoning powers of the human mind. A wild bird can be taken from the nest when it’s just hatched, reared in a cage, and if set free will be able to construct a nest exactly like those its species has been building ever since the world began.”

“It’s just wonderful, that’s what, Dick! But let’s creep underneath and see if we can find anything of the lost articles.”

No sooner were they inside the rude shelter than both boys uttered cries of wonder mingled with delight.

“Here’s his treasure-chest as sure as anything!” yelled Leslie. “Oh, look, Dick! Mr. Holwell’s gold watch, and not a bit hurt, either! Won’t he be tickled half to death at getting it back? When I start winding it up I can hear it begin to work. And here’s Dan’s nickel time-keeper too, as well as Peg’s precious aluminum frying-pan.”

“Yes, and I’ve found the field-glasses that other party lost, as well as lots of things besides,” added Dick, laughing happily, for it really did seem as though the very last of their troubles had now been smoothed out.

“This is certainly a great picnic,” asserted Leslie. “I’d like Clint to come and take a good picture of this ape-made shack. It’d be well worth showing, with our crowd grouped around it as evidence that we’ve been here.”

“I’ll ask Mr. Bartlett to have it done to-morrow, for Mr. Holwell talks of having to go back home on the next day!” Dick declared.

“We’ll all be sorry to see the last of him, Dick.”

“That’s right,” agreed the other, earnestly. “Mr. Holwell is one man among a million when it comes to knowing just how to wind boys around his finger. But then that’s because he loves boys so. No man can have control over them unless he is thinking and planning for their benefit night and day.”

“I reckon you’re right there,” Leslie asserted. “Boys are a heap like animals. A dog knows by instinct who’s his friend. He’ll come up to one fellow wagging his tail the minute he hears his voice, even if he never saw him before; and growl as soon as another chap speaks to him. That’s the way with boys--they just _know_.”

As there was nothing more to detain them, Dick and his chum set off to find the berry pickers and lead them to the strange shelter fashioned by the escaped gorilla.

Great was the astonishment of the mill lads when they looked upon the “den,” and learned that everything that had been taken from their camp, as well as numerous other articles, had been recovered.

That very afternoon all of the campers made their way to the spot, and Clint, as well as several other contestants for the photograph prize, managed to get several pictures of the “monkey shack” as the boys called it. They took inside views also, with the array of recovered articles in plain sight, as a reminder of the thievish propensities of the big ape.

Several days later some one was discovered making gestures, and signalling from the mainland. Upon this a couple of the boys rowed over and found that two men had arrived in a sort of wagon, that could be also called a cage.

This was the circus proprietor and one of his assistants, who had come to get the valuable animal that had been loose so long. The proprietor brought a letter from Mr. Capes, as had been agreed upon. This told of the reward of two hundred dollars which had been offered for the capture of the gorilla, and which the proprietor had agreed to pay to the boys in camp.

After some little time the experienced circus men managed to get the gorilla into the cage. Dick suspected that they made use of chloroform or something of that nature, though he was never sure about it, because no one was allowed to accompany them when they went to the pit.

On the following day the two skiffs were fastened together, and in this way served as a ferryboat to take the cage and its occupant across to where the wagon awaited them.

The money in cash was handed to Dick, greatly to the delight of Dan and the rest of the boys; for it had been decided that the reward was to go into the club treasury for future needs.

This was not all the good fortune that came their way. Mr. Holwell had insisted in redeeming his word, and he placed ten dollars in Dick’s hand when he was handed his valued gold watch, unharmed save by a single scratch that would always serve to bring the exciting events of the occasion fresh to his mind.

Not to be outdone, Dan also handed his “magnificent reward” over, swelling the aggregate receipts of the treasury by another ten cents. And later on, when the sportsmen from Creston were communicated with and told the wonderful story, they sent twenty-five dollars to Mr. Bartlett for the boys of the Cliffwood Y. M. C. A. with their compliments.

Returning again to the afternoon just after the ape had been trapped, it can be easily understood that there were many lighter hearts in the camp, now that all danger of a night visit from the gorilla was past.

Nat and his two cronies in particular seemed to have recovered their lost nerve--a fact that Dick was none too glad to see, for he half feared Mr. Bartlett might have trouble with the trio after Mr. Holwell left. Still, as the loyal ones were so overwhelmingly in the majority it hardly seemed likely that Nat would try any of his tricks, with the odds so greatly against him.

The day finally came when Mr. Holwell had to leave the boys. He showed that he disliked doing so very much. He had so heartily enjoyed himself while among them that he felt keenly the severance of those friendly ties that bound him to his boys.

In fact everybody was more or less subdued, and no one displayed any ambition to do anything until after Mr. Holwell had said good-bye.