"He is not here, Ned."
"Most unreliable guide we've had. I shall dismiss him immediately upon our arrival at the Red Star Mine," decided the Professor. "You are sure he is nowhere about, Tad?"
"You can see. He's not here. I hope he has left the rope. I'll climb up there and find out. No, he has taken it with him, evidently."
"Here's the rope," called Stacy, hauling it from a clump of bushes where it had evidently been dropped.
"Coil it and cast it up here," directed Tad.
This done, he began hauling up the bundles that they made fast to it below. Finally, this was completed without accident. All hands took up their packages from that point and started along the winding trail that led up the mountain side.
"Most peculiar, most peculiar," muttered the Professor.
"Maybe some of those spirits that the Indian was talking about came up and got him," suggested Stacy, with serious face.
"Maybe," agreed Ned. "But I'd sooner think they would take you if they were the real bad spirits."
"It is my opinion," declared Professor Zepplin gravely, "that the spirits that trouble Eagle-eye most are not the supernatural kind. We certainly drew a prize when we picked him."