"Guess we'll have to ride the mules," grinned Stacy.
"You may be a mule driver if you wish—I'll walk," retorted Ned.
"That's what we all shall have to do," laughed Tad. "Glad the thieves didn't take our guns."
"And the food," reminded Stacy.
"Yes. Probably they knew you had your appetite with you," laughed
Ned.
In the meantime Tad had begun a search about the place for clues. He discovered where the animals had been taken from camp, but, as in the case with the loss of the other animals, the trail suddenly disappeared a short distance from camp.
"They seem to have headed for the west. We are sure of that much," decided Ned.
"Which means nothing at all," answered Tad. "They may have turned and gone back or else are traveling along ahead of us. In either case we can't follow them. Do you not think we had better be starting, Professor? We cannot afford to lose a minute now. I want my pony."
"And so do I—and I—and I," added the lads, one after the other.
"I think so. Yet how are we going to find our way? We shall be lost."