Page:Bedford-Jones--Boy Scouts of the Air at Cape Peril.djvu/139

 shoveling at the white spot. Jimmy and his guide held their ground for a minute as they watched the operation. Then curiosity got the better of them and they slid down to the scene of Cat's activities. In evidence there was nothing more exciting than a heap of oyster shells, apparently recently laid bare by a sudden shifting of the sands.

"What sort of fool doings is this?" sneered Jimmy as he watched his imperturbable companion plying his shovel amid the crumbly shells. "These ain't anything but oyster shells."

"That's all right," Cat condescended to answer as he dug away. "You wait. What are oyster shells doing way up here?"

"Reckon somebody just had an oyster roast," surmised the short lad.

Luke had picked up some of the shells and was crumbling them between his powerful fingers.

"Them's oyster shells, all right," he announced. "I used to be a oyster opener, and I know these here ain't no new shells. Ain't no tellin' how old they is."

"See," exulted Cat, stopping his labor for a