“Now,” Clay suggested, as the three sat at the little table in the center of the cabin, two facing each other and one looking out of the open doorway which commanded a view of the deck, “suppose we have the honey we’re going to consume to keep Teddy from acquiring it? Where is it?”
“I put it back of the electric stove, there by the window,” Alex replied. “I’ll get it in a minute.”
Three faces were turned toward the rear window, three pair of eyes expressed amazement, incredulity, three boys sprang to their feet and moved toward the electric stove. The can of honey was not there!
“I saw it not more than a minute ago!” insisted Case.
“So did I,” Alex agreed. “Not half a minute ago!”
Then three faces turned toward the deck. Teddy and Captain Joe lay on the prow, sweltering in the heat, their ears cocked as if set to catch some sound as yet only faintly heard. They didn’t have the honey!
“I reckon,” Alex observed, “that we’ve got a phantom boarder!”
“He’s got his nerve, whoever he is!” Case said, with a scowl, for Case was inordinately fond of honey, and had counted much on the can which had so strangely disappeared. “He’s clever, too!”
Captain Joe now arose from the deck at the prow and walked to the railing on the port side. He stood there an instant, as if undecided what to do next, then lifted his paws to the top of the deck guard and looked over into the river.
“I guess the dog’s got him—this phantom boarder!” Clay laughed.