"I can't be; it was just after you had leaped down from that low boulder that you gave your right arm a swing and away the gun went."
"Did you notice where it landed?"
"I can put my hand on the very spot."
"Do so."
Fred led the way a few paces and said:
"It was there, and nowhere else."
Jack bent over and carefully studied the earth.
"My gracious! you are right; that dent in the ground was made by the stock of my gun, and it couldn't have gone its own length further."
The space was clear for several yards, and they would have discerned a small coin lying anywhere on it, but nothing suggesting a weapon was in sight.
A momentary consternation took possession of them. Only one conclusion was possible: some person had taken the Winchester.