Everything that ought to have been there was there except the article of which he was in search.
He tumbled the contents of both pockets on the ground, tossed them in all directions, but the little round package, wrapped in a piece of newspaper, was not to be found.
"It's gone!" gasped Leon, his hands falling helplessly by his side.
"You don't mean the money?" cried the hunter, whose excitement was fully equal to Leon's.
"Yes, I do mean the money," replied the boy, who felt like yelling with indignation. "It beats me how he got it, for I have kept a close watch over it ever since he told me that he wanted to go home. There were more than three hundred dollars in that roll, too."
The hunter muttered something that sounded very much like the heaviest kind of an imprecation.
"You're a nice one to have money!" said he angrily. "Why didn't you keep it in your pocket?"
"Because I was afraid it would work out and get lost. Where are you going?" said Leon, as the hunter turned and ran toward his horse.
"I'm going to have that money back," said Eben, in savage tones. "He can't be far off, for he hasn't been gone long enough to put many miles between him and us. He was in his bed the last time I fixed the fire, and fast asleep, too, for I saw him. If I come up with him, he'll never steal any more money, I bet you!"
"Don't be too hard on him," said Leon, who did not like the expression he saw in his companion's face. "He is my cousin, you know."