“Which way did our tent buckle in?” Buck asked Plum.
“From the left side,” was the answer.
“Couldn’t have,” said a boy, promptly. “Ours went in on the right!”
“One of you must be wrong,” said Buck. “The wind must have come from one direction to have force enough to flatten out the tents, and it would have hit either on the right or the left side and not on both. How about you fellows in the first two tents?”
“Ours went in on the left,” said a boy from the second tent.
“But ours collapsed on the right,” said Tom Clayton.
Buck snatched up the lantern. “I thought there was something funny about that tent business all along,” he said. “Wait until I come back.” He strode off with the lantern, leaving them wondering.
Buck went to the tents and placed the lantern on the ground. The canvas had fallen in a confused mass and he was compelled to fish under it for the ropes. He located the ropes which had been pegged into the ground and examined them carefully. Without saying anything he examined the others, passing from tent to tent.
“Find anything?” Ted hailed him, from the fire.
“Yes, sir!” was the vigorous answer. “These tent ropes were cut!”