"I'll allow all that sounds reasonable, but where is Sam?"
"Of course I don't know. Do you think he would dare to go down the river again after we landed?"
"No, indeed; he's too much of a coward for that. If there's been any funny business it was done when the men got back."
"Then we have no need to worry, for there are hundreds of people on the bank of the creek all the time, an' Sam would know enough to yell if anybody tried to steal him."
The idea that the amateur detective might be stolen seemed so comical to Dan that he gave way to mirth, and what had promised to be a most sorrowful visit speedily became a merry one.
"He had permission to remain away from the exhibition building during the rest of the day," Teddy finally said, "an' most likely he's goin' to take advantage of it by roaming around the grounds, exercising his detective faculties. He'll turn up at the museum to-night all right, with a big yarn to tell about his supposed adventures."
"I reckon you're right; but I did get a little rattled when his boss asked me where he was. I'll come back this way when it's time to go to supper."
"Wait a minute. I'm mighty hungry now, an' business has been so good that I can afford to treat to sandwiches an' lemonade, if you'll go with me over to the grand stand. I'll bring you back something, Tim," he added, as he leaped over the railing.
Dan said he could remain away half an hour from the rifle exhibit, and Teddy was now so easy in mind concerning money matters that he resolved to have thirty minutes of sport.
The boys first made a tour of that portion of the grounds where the fakirs were congregated, stopping a moment to see the whip dealer lashing a pine stake to show the quality of his goods, and then watching the "Great African Dodger," who thrust his woolly head through an aperture in a canvas screen for all those to throw balls at who were inclined to pay the price.