"Too risky to scale that," Frank mused, as he noted the sharp-pointed palings. "I'll walk along it a bit."
He started to make a circuit, going along the edge of the cliff, for he thought there might be a gateway in the fence. As he was moving cautiously along, looking for an opening, he was startled by a sudden challenge:
"Who are you, and what do you want?"
Frank glanced up, to see a man looking at him. The fellow was attired in the uniform of an attendant at the sanitarium.
"What do you want?" the man repeated sharply.
Several plans flashed through Frank's mind. Should he make inquiries of the attendant concerning that which he so desired to know? He half resolved to, and then he realized that the man was but a keeper, and, probably, could not enlighten him.
"I'm looking for a friend," Frank said.
"No one allowed around here," the man went on. "This is private property. Be off, now, before I set the dogs on you."
Frank knew he could gain nothing by staying. He had found out what he wanted to know, namely, that the stream near the camp ran to the sanitarium. He turned quickly, and made his way to where he had ascended the cliff. The man was watching him, but, when he saw the boy disappear he was, apparently, satisfied, and went on walking around his post on the grounds of the institution.
Frank reached the canoe, shoved off, and began rapidly paddling back. With long strokes he sent the frail craft against the current, and, in about an hour he came to the falls. He carried the craft around them, and then set out on the last stage of his journey back to where his chums still slumbered.