The other boys stared, amazed at this unexpected development.
"It's been stolen!" cried Frank. "No one has a key to the boathouse but Joe and me."
"It was here at noon!" exclaimed Joe. "I was in here for a few minutes before I went to school."
"Who could have taken it?" asked Chet.
"Do you think it could have been Paul Blum?" suggested Joe.
The same thought had been in Frank's mind.
"That's who it was! He wanted to make a quick getaway, so he figured his best chance would be by boat."
"And perhaps he found out where our boathouse was, just so he could get even because we turned him over to the police," Joe put in.
"He can't be very far away," Phil Cohen pointed out. "Your father said he just escaped a little while ago."
Frank ran along the landing out to the front of the boathouse. For a moment he scanned the bay. Then he gave a sudden shout.