"Maybe while he was out in the woods he fell down over some rocks," suggested Andy.
"He's a pretty old man to be climbing around in dangerous places," added his twin.
When the time came to go to bed, none of the boys felt like retiring. A lantern was lit and hung up on a flagpole which stood between the two cabins. This was a signal which had been agreed upon when the Rovers had first come to Snowshoe Island.
"There! Now if he can see the light he'll be able to locate himself," said Fred.
The boys took a walk around by the boat landing, and also to the edge of the woods back of the cabin, but all to no purpose. Then they finally retired to their own shelter.
"We might as well go to bed," suggested Handy. "It won't do any good for all of us to stay up. If you say so, we might take turns in staying on guard, in case we should hear a call for help, or anything like that."
This was considered good advice, and each youth took two hours at staying awake while the others slept; and thus the night passed.
With the first streak of daylight, the boys prepared a hasty breakfast, and then went outside to view the situation. They soon found the tracks of the old lumberman's snowshoes, leading into the woods, and presently saw two other tracks close behind them.
"I'm no sleuth, but it looks to me as if Uncle Barney went into the woods and two persons followed him!" exclaimed Jack.
"Just the way it looks to me, too," answered Fred.