This he did, and received the thanks of the parents who had begun to spread an alarm through the camp concerning the missing boys.
This turning back made the Curlytop family a trifle late, and it was after dark when they reached the dock in the river alongside the lumber camp.
“Hello, what brings you back so soon?” asked Mr. Teeter, as he came down with a lantern to see who was tying up at his dock. “I thought you’d be gone for a week longer.”
“We got the wrong box,” explained Mr. Martin. “Are the movie people still here?”
“No, they’ve gone,” was the answer. “Left this morning.”
“Dear me!” exclaimed Mrs. Martin. “How unfortunate. Shall we ever get those albums back?”
“When I say the movie people have gone, I mean all those have gone who were here when you were,” went on Mr. Teeter. “But the head man is here, Harry Portnay—the leading man I believe they call him. He’s here with a couple of camera men. They’re going to make some pictures of him alone.”
“Oh, if Mr. Portnay is here, he’s the very one I want to see,” stated Mr. Martin. “I hope he has the right box.”
“He’s right over in that cabin,” said the lumberman who owned the tame bears. “I guess he hasn’t gone to bed yet—there’s a light going.”
Mr. Martin, carrying the wrong box, hastened over to the cabin of the movie actor. Mr. Portnay greeted the visitor, looked at the box the Curlytops’ father held out, and exclaimed: