"It wasn't stolen. The spook just spooked it, that's all," he declared convincingly.
"But you must be in error, Ned," cried the Professor.
"I'm not. It's gone. I left it beside my bed. It isn't there now.
I tell you somebody's been in this camp and robbed me!"
A sudden silence settled over the camp. The boys looked into each other's faces questioningly. Was this another mystery of the Bright Angel Gulch? They could not understand.
"Mebby the kid did see a ghost after all," muttered the guide.
"The kid did. And I guess the kid ought to know," returned Stacy pompously.
CHAPTER XX
IN THE HOME OF THE HAVASUPAIS
An investigation showed that Ned Rector was right in his assertion. His rifle had been taken, likewise his revolver and his cartridges. It lent color to Stacy's statement that he had seen something, but no one believed that that something had been a ghost, unless perhaps the guide believed it, for having lived close to Nature so long, he might be a superstitious person.
There was little sleep in the camp of the Pony Rider Boys for the rest of the night. They were too fully absorbed in discussing the events of the evening and the mysteries that seemed to surround them. First, Stacy had lost his rifle, the captive lion had mysteriously disappeared, and now another member of their party had lost his rifle and revolver. Dad directed the boys not to move about at all. He hoped to find a trail in the morning, a trail that would give him a clue in case prowlers had been in the camp.