“Headless Hollow,” Jack suggested.
“And he can’t drive the car up Crazy Mountain,” the rancher added dryly. “We’ll catch up with him. After breakfast, I’ll drive you to Elks Creek.”
Warner’s casual view of the situation only partly reassured the Scouts. Jack and Ken went at once to impart the bad news to the others.
“So Walz really is a crook!” Warwick burst out angrily.
It was impossible to determine how long Walz had been away from the ranch. However, Willie recalled that an hour or two before dawn he had heard an automobile motor.
“I was so sleepy I didn’t pay much attention!” he reproved himself. “Chump!”
The Explorers tried not to talk too much about the loss of their car, but of course it worried them. They were hundreds of miles from Belton City, and their money had run low. They knew they could wire their parents for more, but they had no intention of doing so except in an absolute emergency.
As they ate breakfast, Craig Warner seemed in as good spirits as ever. The loss of the map didn’t appear to disturb him.
“I can draw it myself from memory,” he said. “That paper won’t be nearly the help to Walz he thinks it will.”
“Your guess is he’ll head straight for the mountain?” Mr. Livingston asked.