t
appear as though after all Steve might be the cause of the strange
vanishing of the trout creel.

But now that prop was knocked out from under Toby's feet. Hence his face
looked pale and somewhat peaked as he hurried over to where the
khaki-colored tent stood, with the smouldering fire close by.

"Hello! here's our frog-hunter come back, and I hope he's met with good
luck in the bargain!" Max called out, and then as he noticed first that
Toby looked somewhat frightened, and second that he was not carrying the
trout creel over his shoulder as might be expected, he went on to
exclaim: "Why, what's happened to you, Toby? Where's your basket?"

Now Toby, as the reader knows, was likely to get his tongue dreadfully
twisted in all sorts of strange knots if he tried to speak in a hurry,
when very much excited. That was just what happened now; and Steve had
to thump him on the back with considerable energy before he made the
accustomed sign that he had succeeded in getting control over his vocal
chords again.

"B-b-basket's gone!" was the shot he fired at them as soon as he could
speak.

"What d'ye mean, Toby!" asked Steve, frowning; "gone and lost my trout
creel in some mud bed, and can't find it again? I ought to be glad you
didn't let the Marlin follow suit."

"'Tain't that!" declared the other, with an in-taking of his breath;
"it's been h-h-hooked, that's what!"

Max saw that he would have to take a hand in the matter so as to get at
the facts without any more delay; for Steve's methods were apt to simply
excite Toby more and more, and that meant a further thickness of speech.

"Tell us what happened, Toby," he said, with the little touch of
authority in his voice that his position as the leader of the party
permitted, and which was always respected by the other chums.

"That's j-just what I want to do, Max," Toby went on to say, after
swallowing once or twice in a peculiar way he had when trying hard to
get a grip on himself. "You s-s-see, I got to leavin' the b-b-basket on
the b-b-bank along with the gun. I had her near c-c-crammed full of the
f-f-finest saddles you ever saw, too. Then just when I g-g-got to next
to the last jumper I m-m-meant to take, s-s-say, when I looked before
throwin' that f-f-frog ashore the b-b-basket wasn't there!"

"Sure you didn't misplace it, Toby?" asked Max, who could not forget
that the other had a little failing in the way of meaning to do certain
things, and then going righ