Jimmy, who was in the van, suddenly gave a cry of dismay.
“The bags are gone!” he exclaimed. “I dropped mine right here, and now there are no signs of it.”
“And mine was close by this tree,” cried Herb. “That’s gone too.”
They hunted about for a few minutes, but the search was fruitless.
“Look here!” exclaimed Joe, at last. “Those bags didn’t walk away of their own accord. Somebody’s taken them.”
“And after working all day to fill them!” groaned Jimmy.
“Say, fellows,” said Bob. “The only ones that have been around here have probably been Buck Looker and his gang. There’s the answer.”
“But they didn’t have any bags with them,” interposed Herb.
“They could have hidden them, intending to come back after dark and get them,” replied Bob. “I’m going to question them anyway. Buck Looker isn’t going to put anything like that over on us.”
“They’ll only lie out of it,” prophesied Jimmy pessimistically.