"It sure is!" Toby declared, half holding up his right hand as though he fancied himself in the witness chair, and bound to give facts exactly as they were. "And l-l-looky here, will you, s-s-see where the gun stood up against the tree trunk? Well, the b-b-basket lay over by that clump of g-g-grass."
Max immediately stepped over and bent down.
"He's right about that, fellows," he announced; "because here you can plainly see where the basket lay on the ground, for it left an impression."
"It ought to," burst out Toby, convincingly; "because it was h-h-heavy enough to m-m-make a m-m-mark anywhere."
All of them could see what Max referred to. The basket had undoubtedly lain there on the bank. Max looked all around him, then up toward the tree overhead. In this case the lower branches were at least ten feet from the ground; and he mentally calculated that no animal, however long its reach, could have possibly stretched down and secured that basket.
That would mean there should be some chance for discovering telltale imprints near by. Max was unusually clever with regard to such things; and always thought of them first when there was a mystery of this kind afoot.
"Keep where you are, everybody, please, for just a minute or two," he went on to say; "that is, don't move around more than you can help; and use your eyes to help locate the tracks left by this thing, whatever it may be."
"Oh! a good idea, Max!" burst from Toby; "now, why didn't I think of that before I put for the c-c-camp?"
Nobody gave him an answer, but doubtless Steve deep down in his heart was saying, "Because you were badly rattled, I guess, my boy; and wanted to meet up with some of the rest of the crowd too much, that's what."
After all it was Max who discovered what he sought. They heard him give utterance to a low exclamation, as though of surprise; then he was seen to bend down and closely examine something.