"Gilligan! Mary Ann! We're back!"

The Professor, Skipper, Ginger and the Howells strolled happily into camp expecting a return greeting. Instead, they were greeted by silence. Everybody looked around, puzzled. "Gilligan? Mary Ann?"

"That's odd," said the Professor. "They were here at the table when I left them."

"Maybe they're inside," said Ginger, and lifted the shutter over her window's flower box. "Mary Ann?"

The Skipper pushed open his bamboo door but saw nothing but empty hammocks. "Gilligan!" he called, and soon searched the whole hut as if in some vain hope Gilligan was hiding in the food locker.

The Howells and the Professor came up empty as well. "Did anyone see a note?" asked the Professor. But nobody had.

"Maybe they went looking for us," said Ginger.

"No, they saw us take the trail to the lagoon. They would have met us coming back."

"By George, that boy has vanished again. And this time he's taken poor Mary Ann with him!"

. The Skipper was becoming agitated. "Professor, where could they have gone?"

"I don't know." He looked at Mary Ann's cooking area. "But they obviously didn't leave in any hurry. The campfire's out and she's washed the dishes. It even looks as though she gave Gilligan some lunch. I don't think there's anything to worry about, Skipper."

"Nothing to worry about! Gilligan and Mary Ann have gone off who knows where all alone together, with Gilligan in the state he's in, and you're telling me there's nothing to worry about?"

"Oh dear, Captain," said Mrs. Howell, "didn't you have a chance to speak to Gilligan about the birds and the bees?"

The Skipper rolled his eyes. "Oh, for goodness' sake, Mrs. Howell, I didn't mean that! Why I'd be much less worried if I thought Mary Ann and Gilligan had just gone off somewhere to…to…ep…" The Skipper looked as though the whole Japanese fleet had just loomed up on the horizon.

"Captain?"

"Oh, brother. Thanks, Mrs. Howell. Thanks a lot. Now I've really got nothing to worry about!"

Thurston Howell quickly took his beaming wife by the arm and steered her towards their hut. "Come along, Lovey. Let's get that book that Ginger wanted."

"But Thurston, what if Gilligan and Mary Ann are simply—"

"Come along, my dear!"

As the Howells vanished into their hut Ginger looked at the Professor and Skipper. "I guess I'd better come up with some kind of costume. Wish me luck!" She vanished into her hut a moment later.

The Professor beckoned to the Skipper. "Come on, Skipper. The others items we talked about are in the supply hut."

As they ducked inside, the Skipper shook his head. "Oh, Professor, what do I have to do to keep him out of trouble? Wrap him up in a fish net? Chain him like an anchor?"

The Professor laughed. "I daresay we'd find life on the island pretty dull if we did."

"Oh, boy, I could use a little dullness just about now!" The two men collected some bamboo poles, a blanket, some torches, the Minnow's bell and hammer, and some phials of powder. When they came out they found Ginger dressed in her long gypsy peasant skirt and blouse, her red hair veiled by a long, sequined scarf. "How do I look?" she asked hopefully.

The Professor nodded eagerly. "That's perfect, Ginger. You've got the candle?"

"Right here."

The Skipper shook his head. "Professor, do you really think we can pull this off? I mean, you put on a good act, Ginger, but Gilligan's seen you do your magic schtick before. Do you really think he'll fall for it?"

The Professor shrugged. "To believe in an exorcism, you have to believe in ghosts. Gilligan certainly does. Perhaps if we work with what he believes this time instead of what we believe, we'll finally get somewhere"

The Skipper noticed one last item the Professor was carrying. "What's that you've got, Professor? Is that something for the exorcism too?"

Ginger stared as the Professor struggled to unfold the long, rusty tube he was carrying. When he finally got it open it sagged forward at one end. "If that's the Minnow's telescope, no wonder we're lost!"

"It's not the Minnow's, Ginger. It's about two hundred years old. I found it up on the cliffs Gilligan said he visited last night. I thought that having it and the pirate cutlass at the exorcism might add to its credibility."

The Skipper shook his head. "Well, I hope you're right, Professor. But to find the cutlass we have to find Gilligan – wherever he is!"

"Skipper! Everybody!"

They all turned in surprise as Mary Ann came racing out of the jungle. She reached them and leaned on the table, trying to catch her breath. The Skipper hurried up and took her gently by the shoulders. "Mary Ann! Thank goodness! Where've you been?" He looked hopefully over her shoulder at the jungle, expecting to see the familiar red and white of Gilligan's shirt and hat. But there was no one. "Mary Ann – where's Gilligan? Isn't he with you?"

"He was," she gasped. "We walked up to that pretty little bay on the western side of the island. The one with the steep ridge that slopes down to the water."

"What for?"

She looked embarrassed for a moment, then shrugged. "I don't know - he wanted to, Skipper. He just wanted to show it to me. He said it was one of his favourite spots because it's so beautiful and so magical…" she stopped, flustered. "And it is – except then we saw the crocodiles."

"Crocodiles!" They all chorused, horrified.

"Well, Gilligan saw them, I didn't. But oh, Skipper, he saved my life! He pulled me away from the rocks and we ran away down the trail. He was going to fight them and hold them off, but they hadn't followed us. So he stayed to cut some brush and barricade the trail and he told me to come back and tell you where he was."

The Skipper clutched at his hat, panicking. "Crocodiles! My little buddy's alone with crocodiles? He couldn't handle a near-sighted sea turtle, much less a crocodile!"

"Now wait, Skipper." The Professor grabbed the Skipper's arm before he could take off. "I know there are crocodiles on the island, but we've never seen any over there. The tide's too strong for them. I don't think he saw any at all."

"You don't? Oh, thank goodness!" the Skipper felt weak with relief.

"But Professor, he was terrified! Why would he say he saw them if he didn't?"

The Professor frowned. "I'm afraid this may be just another hallucination, Mary Ann. Gilligan's delusions are multiplying at an alarming rate. We'd just better hope this works."

At that moment the Howells emerged from their hut. They had changed into formal evening wear, and Mr. Howell carried a large, leather-bound, gilt-edged volume under his arm. "Lovey and I have the book, Professor. Why, Mary Ann, my dear, you're back! What a relief!"

Mrs. Howell peered through her lorgnette. "But you surely don't mean to attend the exorcism dressed like that, do you, my dear? I mean, it is an evening performance, after all."

"Exorcism?" Mary Ann repeated, completely confused.

"We'll explain as we go, Mary Ann. The Professor turned to the Skipper. "We won't be back before nightfall, Skipper; you'd better bring some torches. Mary Ann, lead on. Operation Exorcism is underway!"