Tom was right. When Chester came over with his friends he said that the former teacher of Putnam Hall was missing, having left word that he was going around the lake to look for a certain species of flower which so far they had been unable to add to their specimens.
"But he will have to come back," said the Vale student. "He has no outfit with which to go it alone."
He was right. Crabtree put in an appearance just before the sun set over the jungle to the westward. He presented a most woebegone appearance, having fallen into a muddy swamp on his face.
"I—I met with an—an unfortunate accident," he said to Chester. "I fell into the—ahem—mud, and it was only with great difficulty that I managed to—er—to extricate myself."
"Josiah Crabtree, you didn't expect to see me here, did you?" said Dick sternly, as he stepped forward. And then the others of his party also came out from where they had been hiding in the brush.
The former teacher of Putnam Hall started as if confronted by a ghost.
"Why—er—where did you come from, Rover?" he faltered.
"You know well enough where I came from, Josiah Crabtree," cried Dick wrathfully. "You dropped me into the hollow for dead, didn't you!"
"Why, I—er—that—is—" stammered Crabtree; but could actually go no further.
"Don't waste words on him, Dick," put in Tom. "Give him the thrashing he deserves."