When they looked again, the figure had vanished from that point high up among the rocks. Evidently Ted, having seen all he wished, had gone to tell his cronies the story.
"Where d'ye think they've located; because never a tent did they bring along?" Jack was asking as they returned to camp.
"Oh! up here that wouldn't matter much. Looks like there might be hundreds of caves of all sizes among these piled-up rocks. And a cave is a pretty good hide-out sometimes. I've spent lots of nights in one."
The afternoon sun had vanished behind another elevation that lay to the west; but night was slow in coming, since these were some of the longest days of the year.
Paul could not help noticing that Joe Clausin seemed worried once more. He kept by himself a good bit of the time, and his brow was clouded. Then again, he had taken to looking suspiciously about, here and there, up the steep mountainside, and even along the dimly-defined road that skirted the lake.
It was no mystery to Paul, so far as understanding what Joe might be worrying about went.
"That man with the rig who passed our noon camp on the road—Joe knows he's up here somewhere, and perhaps he wants to meet up with him—I wonder why?" was the way the young scoutmaster ran the thing over in his active mind.
In one way it did not concern him, because Joe had not asked for his assistance; but then again it certainly interested Paul. He believed that there was some odd connection between the loss of those papers contained in the tin box, and the presence