"Who is out there?" It was Shep who asked the question.
"It is I, Snap," was the reply.
"What"s wrong?" And now the doctor"s son poked his head from the shelter.
"I heard a fox and thought I"d shoot him----but he ran away,"
said Snap. He was in no humor to tell about the empty shotgun, for he did not wish his chum to have the laugh on him.
"Oh, is that all. Say, do you know it"s cold?"
"Yes, and that is why I am stirring up the fire," answered Snap.
"Do you know, I had an awful dream," continued the doctor"s son.
"It has left me wideawake."
"Better go to sleep, Shep, or you"ll be f.a.gged out in the morning."
"I dreamed somebody ran away with our boat and all our supplies,"
went on Shep. "We didn"t have a thing left, and we were in our nightclothes!"
"You must have been thinking of Ham Spink and Carl Dudder, and what they did last year."
"Maybe. Of course the boat and outfit are safe," went on the doctor"s son.
"I suppose so---I haven"t looked."
"Just take a look before you turn in, will you?"
"Yes."
Shep"s head disappeared, and Snap finished fixing the fire. Then he turned to the lake, where the boat with the most of the outfit had been left, tied to an overhanging tree.
The craft with its contents was gone!
Snap could scarcely believe the evidence of his senses. He pinched himself, to make certain that he was awake. It was true---the craft was nowhere in sight.
At first he thought to arouse the others but then concluded to look for the boat first. Perhaps it had only broken away and was drifting close by. If so he would bring it back and fasten it securely without giving the alarm.
But a five-minutes" hunt convinced Snap that the rowboat with its valuable contents was nowhere in that vicinity, and then he ran back to the tent much disturbed.
"Get up, you fellows!" he called. "Get up! The boat is gone!"
At first n.o.body paid attention, for even Shep was asleep once more. But then Giant roused up, quickly followed by his chums.
"What"s the matter?"
"The boat and our outfit is gone!"
"Gone!"
"Why---er---I dreamed it!" stammered the doctor"s son. "Am I awake or asleep?"
"You"re awake," answered Snap, and then he continued hurriedly: "Shep, do you think you heard somebody take the boat while you were in a doze and so imagined you dreamed it?"
"I---er---I don"t know. No, I don"t think I did---my dream was so unnatural. Come to think of it, the boat had wings and flew away.
Now, that couldn"t happen."
"Not unless some wizard turned the craft into an airship," answered Whopper.
All were soon at the water"s edge and looking in all directions for the missing rowboat. What had been left of the outfit had been stored in the stern and tied down with a rubber cloth, to keep off the heavy dew. They stirred up the campfire still more, and each provided himself with a firebrand as a torch.
"This is the worst luck yet," observed the doctor"s son, with something like a groan. "Supposing we can"t get our boat and outfit back---"
"Oh, we"ve got to get "em back!" burst out Whopper. "We"ll do it if we have to sc.r.a.pe the lake with a fine-tooth comb."
"I wish it was morning---we can"t see much in the dark, even with the torches," said Shep.
Giant was examining the sh.o.r.e, for the possible discovery of strange footprints. But he could discover none that looked different from their own.
"If I was an Indian I might distinguish them, but to me they all look alike," he said.
What to do next the young hunters did not know. Had they had a second boat they might have rowed up and down the lake, but even this move was denied to them.
"Let us go up and down the sh.o.r.e on foot," suggested Snap. "It is all out of the question to go back to bed---I couldn"t sleep a wink."
It was decided that Shep and Snap should go north while Whopper and Giant went south. All procured new torches, and each took along a gun.
"If you discover anything give the old whistle," said the leader of the club.
The way Snap and Shep had chosen was anything but easy. To the northward the sh.o.r.e of Lake Cameron was rocky and uneven, with many gullies and little streams flowing over the rocks. More than once they thought they heard somebody or some animal moving but the sound proved to be nothing but the falling water. Once Shep stepped into a hollow and was scared by the sudden appearance of several big bullfrogs.
"Wish they were rabbits or squirrels, I might shoot them," he said.
"Well, you can shoot the frogs if you wish," answered Snap. "The hind legs are as sweet as squirrel meat."
"I know that---but I"m not out for frogs just now. I want to find that boat."
The two young hunters covered a quarter of a mile when they came out on a small point of land overlooking the broad lake. As they, did this Snag uttered a cry:
"What is that out yonder, Shep?"
"Why, I declare, it looks like the boat!"
"Just what I was thinking. How can we get to her?"
"I don"t know---unless we swim over."
"Is anybody on board?"