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 can leave some o’ you here and the rest o’ us can strike out across the country for more supplies.  It won’t be so hard comin’ back as it will be goin’.  We’ll get some burros to carry the stuff back for us and then they can go back with the drivers.”

“If we don’t do that what else can we do?” inquired Grant.

“Some of us can go down the river in the boat and then strike out for Thorn’s Gulch while the others are coming overland.”

“It will take two days to do that,” said Fred ruefully.

“And the other will take four and maybe five,” retorted Zeke.