"Well, this gets me," declared the guide, wiping the perspiration from his forehead. "This certainly does."
"Is—-is my rifle lost?" wailed Chunky.
"I reckon you'll never see that pretty bit of firearms again," grinned
Jim.
"But it must be here," insisted Stacy.
"But it isn't. Fortunately we have plenty of guns with us. You can get another when we go back to camp."
"Yes, but this one is mine——-"
"Was yours," corrected Nance.
"It is mine, and I'm going to have it before I leave this miserable old hole," declared the boy.
"I hope you find it. I'd like to know how the thing ever got away in that mysterious manner."
"Maybe the lion took it."