y so," exclaimed John heartily. "This is a wonderful island
too. I am almost glad we were stranded here."

"I'd be too," said George, "if I was only certain we were going to get
off all right."

"Guess what Fred and I found this morning," said Grant.

"It wasn't any more wonderful than what Pop and I saw," retorted John.

"What did you see?" demanded Grant.

"A rock that's shaped just like a shark."

"Huh," snorted Fred. "That's not half as good as what we found."

"Tell us what it was then," said George.

"Tracks," said Grant.

"Tracks. What kind of tracks?"

"Can't you guess?"

"Not railroad?" suggested George and he put up his arm as though he
expected to have to ward off a blow.

"Don't be silly, Pop," exclaimed Grant. "Of course they weren't."

"Man tracks?" queried John.

"No," said Fred. "They were goat tracks."

"Is that right?" exclaimed George. "Did you see any goats?"

"No, but we saw a good many tracks."

"I told you this was a wonderful island," said John heartily. "You see
we've even got a herd of goats here."

"I don't know what good they'll do us though," said Fred.

"Why not?" demanded John. "If we can catch one we can have it to eat."

"That's all right," said Fred, "but how are you going to cook it without
fire?"

"We'll build one of course."

"Without matches?"

"Pop has some matches. Haven't you, Pop?" inquired John.

"Why, certainly," said George with a great air of importance. "I have
everything of that kind. Wasn't I the fellow who had the compass too? I
keep a diary and I have a compass and I have some matches in a
waterproof box. Who says that I'm not a good man to have on any party?"

"Oh, you're a fine fellow all right," laughed Grant. "Personally I don't
know what good your compass will do us though. Your matches are all
right and I advise you to be very careful with them."

"Leave that to me," said George. "I'll be careful all right."

"Who's going to catch these goats?" demanded Fred.

"We haven't gotten as far as that yet," said Grant laughingly. "I guess
we'll have to put salt on their tails."

"Not at all," exclaimed John seriously. "We'll make spears and get them
that way. To-morrow we'll have a goat hunt."

"Maybe we will," said George skeptically. "Just at present though, I say
we do a little more exploring. We haven't seen much of the interior of
the island yet."

"Come along then," cried Grant. "We'll all go."

With Grant in the lead, they s