“Oh, I thought I dreamed it!” grinned Frank.
“I’d give a good deal to know who it was that had the nerve to pay us a visit in the night-time,” Ned said, presently. “I don’t like the idea of keeping open house during the dark hours. The person who came here last night may come again, and may make more trouble the next time.”
“And that means,” Jimmie complained, “that we’ve got to set a guard every night, and watch our property, just like we were on Third Avenue in New York. It makes me sick to think of it!”
“And just think of all the fun we’ve been having here, playing that we were scores of miles away from anybody! Look here, boys,” he went on, “we’ve been under the sea and over the sea. We’ve had adventures in Panama and in China, and I don’t think we ever had anyone walk over our sleeping forms and steal provisions before.”
“That’s right!” Frank answered. “We must be getting careless in our old age. Now the next thing is to find out who did this.”
“Some poor tramp, probably,” suggested Ned. “We’ll make a business of watching for him during the next few hours, and probably we’ll catch him. I’m sure I hope it was a tramp, for I don’t want to get mixed up with any hostile element up here.”
As Ned ceased speaking he went to the rough cupboard again and began a second inspection of the shelves. Newspapers had been neatly arranged on the boards, and these did not appear to have been disturbed. After going over everything in sight thoroughly, the boy took the sack of salt out to the open sunlight and examined it critically.
“Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, what do you find there?” demanded Frank. “I’ll tell you what,” he went on, “we have seemed to forget that Dad owns one of the leading newspapers in New York City! I will sit down right now and write a long article and call it ‘The Magic Breakfast; or, Who Stole the Beans!’ I think that title would make a hit on the Bowery, eh?”
“It’s about time you began sending in correspondence,” Jimmie grinned. “You know you promised to send in a full account of our ruction with the train robbers, but you never did. The first thing you know, your father will be cutting off your supply of ready cash.”
“Oh, well, then,” Frank laughed, “I’ll retain Jack’s father, who is a rich corporation lawyer, and sue Dad for a breach of promise, or something like that. But look at Ned,” the boy went on, “he’s surely found something on that salt sack!”