at and at the
place on the shore where the other had been drawn from the water. There
was no question now as to their loss. Every member of their party was
present and yet only one boat was to be seen.

Certain of their supplies also were missing and the discovery served to
increase the feeling of dismay.

"Do you suppose that boat got loose?" inquired Fred, who was the first to
speak.

"I don't 'suppose it got loose,'" retorted Grant somewhat gruffly.

"Do you think somebody took it?" again Fred asked.

"If it didn't get loose, please tell me why it's gone? There's only one
way the boat could get into the river. One was for it to get loose and the
other for somebody to work it loose."

"Then the question is," said George, "who took it?"

"And there isn't much question about that," said Fred confidently.

"Do you think those two men stole the boat? I mean the two that were in
our camp last night?"

"I don't know who else could take it," said John. "And it's my fault too,
isn't it?"

"In a way it is your fault, all right," said Grant. "You started those men
on the trail. If you had kept still no one would have known anything about
it."

"That's right," said John, closing his eyes and doing his utmost to assume
the expression of a martyr. "If anything goes wrong, put the blame on
little Johnnie. Cock Robin wasn't in the same class with little Johnnie--"

"You've talked enough," broke in Zeke. "All your talkin' isn't goin' to
bring back our boat. The question is what are we goin' to do, now that one
of the boats is gone."

"Can't we all get into one boat?" inquired George.

"You can," snapped Zeke, "but you won't stay in very long. She would never
carry six."

"What shall we do, then?" asked Fred.

"I think the first thing for us to do is to look around and see if we can
find anything that will give us a clue to the takin' o' the boat."

Acting upon the suggestion the boys at once began a search along the
shore, Fred and John steadily moving back from the river.

Not one of them, however, was able to discover any signs of the presence
of the men whom they suspected. The plain fact was that the heavy boat was
gone and with it had gone many of their supplies.

It was true that one boat was still left, but the guide's statement that
it could not carry six left only one way out of the present difficulty.

"We can do one of two things," suggested Pete when the members of the
party assembled again. "We c