“That must go with all the rest,” Clay replied. “But Case is beckoning us into the cabin and we’ll see about that fish. Of course I’m eager to hear about the bear and the tree, but you can tell me about that after we see what Case’s fish is like.”
The fish was excellent, and even Captain Joe and Teddy were given all they wanted of it. Now and then, during the meal, the boys looked gravely over to the place usually occupied by Gran, but nothing was said of the boy’s strange departure until the fish had disappeared. Then Clay told of the meeting in the cedar canyon, and of other strange actions on the part of the absent boy with which the reader is already acquainted.
Case was loyal to the absent one, and all three boys decided to go down the river slowly, in the hope that Gran would in some way escape from his mysterious companion and return to his friends.
“But how did he get back to the river so quick?” asked Alex. “He was away back there by the bear tree when I last saw him.”
“There is a bend in the river to the south,” Clay answered, “and the man who took him out evidently had the boat hidden there. By going to the shoreline at the bend he would save half the distance. I figured that out before you boys came back.
“And then,” Clay went on, “you came out at the rapids, and so lost considerable time. The question which puzzles me most is not how he got out, but why he went away.”
“And in our boat!” exclaimed Case. “The thief must have been just below us when the boat broke away. Well, we’ll get it back when we get hold of the scamp. It may be days before we see Gran again, so there is no use in asking each other questions. We’ve got to get the Rambler around the rapids in the morning, and I’m going to bed.”
“I move,” Alex added, rising, “that we anchor out in the river. We are too close to shore. I don’t want any ruffian sneaking in on us in the night.”
This was agreed to, and the anchor was lowered over a bar near the middle of the stream. This precaution taken, the boys crept into their bunks, but not for long. The mysteries of the night were not yet over.