, and Jack noticed that for a wonder the usually merry and
light-hearted Irish lad made no attempt to carol any of his favorite
school songs that evening.

They sat there by the fire a long while after eating. The night air
had grown a bit cool, for it was October, when the early frosts nip.
vegetation in the north; and even this far south the coming of night
brings a change from the warm day.

And about nine o'clock Jack, feeling his eyes growing heavy, wondered
whether it would not be wise for them to turn in. They had concluded,
since everything seemed so safe, to try sleeping ashore for a change
from the narrow quarters aboard the little motor boat; and the blankets
were already lying in a heap; in fact, one served Jack as a means of
keeping him from coming in contact with the bare ground as he sat there
writing in his log book and figuring out the respective positions of
the participants in the race, up to that time.

"I say, Jimmie," he began, when, looking around, he discovered that he
was alone, the other having crept away at some time while Jack was
busily employed.

"Now, where under the sun did that boy go to?" Jack said to himself, as
he turned his head this way and that in the endeavor to see some sign
of the missing one.

Presently he made another strange discovery.

"Well, I declare, if he didn't take my little Marlin gun along with
him," he muttered, failing to find the weapon where he felt sure he had
laid it down.

This gave him food for more serious thought. He remembered now how
Jimmie had been impressed with that chance remark of his about the
possibility of danger in the shape of concealed hoboes. Evidently,
unable to resist the temptation, Jimmie had silently picked up the gun
and crept away to make the rounds of their immediate neighborhood, his
design being to learn whether there could be any hobo camp near by.

"Oh! well, I suppose I'll just have to sit here and wait for him to
come back, after he's had his little turn. A queer boy Jimmie is, and
inclined to be superstitious. Perhaps he's looking for a ghost right
now, or one of those banshee's the Irish people believe in. Hello! I
believe I hear something moving over there! Wonder if that's Jimmie
now?"

Jack had arisen to his feet as he watched to discover what came in
sight. Although he might not have confessed to the fact that he was
excited, still his hand was trembling a little as he held back the
branch of the tree