The boys looked up and down the river, but could catch no trace of the missing rowboat or the wild man. In the meantime, the motor-craft was moving forward, where the other boat had been beached among the bushes.
“That is gone, too!” ejaculated Dave. “He has taken our boat!”
“Oh, do you really think so?” asked Gus. He felt that he was responsible for the craft, as he had taken it from the school boathouse.
“I certainly do think so,” said Dave. “It was a neat trick to play.”
“It’s a wonder he didn’t take the motor-boat, too.”
“Maybe he didn’t know how to run the boat and it was too heavy to start without the engine.”
“I guess you are right!” came suddenly from Nat. “Look here!”
He had stooped down to pick something up from the grating on the motor-boat’s bottom. If was a torn and dirty bandanna handkerchief.
“The wild man’s!” cried Dave. “I remember it.”
“I am glad he didn’t get away with my boat,” returned the money-lender’s son, drawing a deep 135 breath. “I’ll keep this handkerchief to remember him by.”