“They have taken several loads of them and some very large stones. After dinner you might walk over and see what you make out of the work so far. I can’t make head or tail of it. A few days ago they planted corn, right in the mud, and in each hole they put a minnow they scooped out of the lake.”

“Why put fish in, do they expect to raise sardines?” Jim laughed.

“Can’t say,” Mr. Fenton answered.

“It’s some heathen notion I know.” Mrs. Fenton announced positively. “Are you getting enough to eat, Bob?”

II THE THREE MYSTERIES

“I say, Uncle Norman, you surely have a crab of a man to look after your turkeys,” Bob remarked when the noonday meal was nearly finished, and the boy suddenly recalled their very unwelcome reception on Isle La Motte.

“A crab?”

“I’ll tell the herd he is the prize long horn for meanness,” Jim added emphatically.

“My goodness, boys, what on earth did he do?” Mrs. Fenton asked soberly, as if she could hardly believe her ears.

“He wouldn’t let us near the place,” Bob explained, then went on with an account of their effort to see the turkey farm.

“Hezzy’s all right, boys. You didn’t tell him who you were.”

“No, we didn’t, but great snakes, about everybody on the three islands seemed to know we were coming. Didn’t seem reasonable that this fellow did not have an idea who we were,” Jim declared.

“Of course, airplane visitors are not common and the news of your arriving from Texas did spread, but it’s possible Hezzy didn’t hear of it,” Mrs. Fenton told them.

“You see, boys, he’s been having quite a peck of trouble. Last year they hatched a big flock of birds, but before they were half grown, a lot of them were stolen. We know they didn’t die—only a few of them—and there is no way for them to have wandered off. Their wings are clipped as soon as they are big enough to get any height, and turkeys do not fly very high or far, anyway. Some one, or some band of thieves must have made away with them. Hezzy is hired to raise them, I haven’t time to and look after the farm, and he takes real pride in having a big flock. Some of the young ones have disappeared already and I expect he’s keeping a mighty close watch to save as many as he can. They bring a 

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