It was not long before the spot which Pete had declared was to be their landing-place was seen before them.  Here there was no great difficulty in gaining the shore and in a brief time the three passengers and the skiff were safely on the bank.

“What shall we do with the skiff?” inquired John after the cargo had been unloaded.

“We’ll leave it here and let some one else take it up the stream or use it if he goes down.  I think it will carry clear to the Gulf of California if he wants to try it.”

“How about that map, String?” demanded Fred as he turned again to his tall companion.

“Right in my pocket,” declared John promptly, “and dry too.  I told you I was not going overboard this time, and I kept my promise, didn’t I?”

“You certainly did,” laughed Fred.  “Now, then, what are we to do next?” he added, turning to the guide as he spoke.

Pete, however, did not reply.  He had advanced several yards up the shore and was drawing from the loose soil several pieces that evidently were parts of a boat that had been wrecked.

“Do you see those?” he inquired, holding up some of the parts he had found.

“Yes,” answered Fred.  “It looks as if a boat had been wrecked down here, doesn’t it?”

“It was ‘wrecked’ all right,” answered Pete, “but I’m wondering if either of you boys knows what boat it was?”

“What boat was it?” inquired John, advancing to the place where the guide was standing.

“It’s our lost skiff,” replied Pete.

“What!”

“It’s just as I’m tellin’ you,” Pete repeated.  “That skiff we lost the other night didn’t get loose.  It was taken by somebody who knew what he was doing and brought down here.  Here’s where the party landed,” he added, as he pointed to the shore.  “But the boat wasn’t ‘wrecked,’ unless you call smashing it wrecking it.”

“What do you mean?  How do you know?” demanded Fred in keen excitement.

“I know because I can see with both eyes,” replied Pete sharply.  “I don’t have to have it all written out for me when I see what’s happened to that boat.”

“Why should anybody want to wreck it?” inquired Fred.

“It might be safer for some people if they started down the stream from here not to have any boats around that could follow.”

“Do you think those two men who were in our camp took the boat?” Fred inquired abruptly.

“That’s exactly what I think.  And I think too,” the guide added as he stopped to examine other parts of the boat, “that this skiff was wrecked as well as smashed.  There’s a hole stove in the bottom and then there are places that have been cut by an axe so I guess both parts of the story are true.”

“Do you suppose they went up Thorn’s Gulch from here?” asked Fred in a low voice.

“That’s just what I think they did,” replied Pete.

“Do you think we may meet them somewhere in the Gulch?”