“WHY, IT’S GONE!” MUTTERED DICK.
“I’d like to see if anybody is missing from his blanket,” he continued to mutter, “but to do that I’d have to wake the whole bunch up, and there would be the mischief to pay. Perhaps I fooled myself after all, and just imagined I was seeing things.”
So concluding to let the matter rest until morning came, Dick proceeded to toss a couple of big pine-knots, that would burn for several hours, on the fire. Then he glanced dubiously around him once more, after which he returned to his blanket.
But not to sleep immediately, for his brain was too excited for that. Indeed, the boy lay there, turning from side to side, until the morning star had arisen above the horizon and shone in upon him, which fact announced that it was three o’clock.
After that his tired brain allowed him to forget his troubles for a time; and when he opened his eyes again the first peep of dawn had come.
Dick crawled softly out and proceeded to get into some clothes. There was no need of arousing everybody in the camp at such an early hour, and he knew very well that if he chanced to awaken some of the noisy ones there would be no further peace until the last sleeper had been dislodged.
He was building up the fire a little later when Leslie appeared in his pajamas, stretching himself, having evidently just awakened.
“Always the first to be on deck, Dick; there’s no getting ahead of you,” he said. And then he added: “But why are you looking over our cooking outfit that way? Peg made sure to hide the aluminum kettle he brought along, if that’s what you miss. He said it was bad enough to lose his frying-pan without having the kettle follow it.”
“I had forgotten,” remarked Dick, relieved, and it was evident that he had feared the unknown thief had paid the camp another of his nocturnal visits.