Finally, filled with a sudden suspicion, he crawled down to examine the stake in the water to which the chain had been secured.
The stake was there all right but no trap rewarded his search.
With his heart beating doubly fast, Darry sped along the path to where he had located his second trap, only to find it also missing.
Now he knew that it could be no accident, but a base plot to upset all his calculations and deprive him of the fruits of his industry.
The thing that angered him most of all was the fact that he must face Mrs. Peake and tell her he had lost the treasures she valued so highly.
He shut his teeth together firmly.
"They won't keep them, not if I know it," he muttered. "I'll find out where they hide them. I'll get 'em again, sure as I live!"
The thieves had apparently done their evil work well. Not a single trap did he find in the various places where he had left them.
But one thing he saw that gave him a savage satisfaction, and this was the fact that there were footprints around the last one, in which the muddy water had not yet had time to become clear.
Darry believed from this that those who had rifled his belongings could not have left the scene more than a few minutes.