"Shucks! then you didn't see me palm the pearl. I put a pebble in place of it. Right now that pearl is in my coin purse, keeping company with the rest," and Max chuckled again as he snuggled down under his blanket.
"Gee! you're a wizard, all right," said Owen, in a whisper, as he reluctantly followed suit.
No doubt he lay awake for a long time, puzzling his head for a solution of the mystery. But the balance of the night passed, and morning found the boys wide awake, hungry, and ready for another day at the delightful task they had set for themselves.
It was when breakfast was about over that Max chose to spring his little surprise.
Steve had just announced his intention of being in the party that would follow the trail to the river that morning.
"Hope I duplicate my luck of yesterday, fellows," he was saying, with a big sigh, when Max, leaning forward so as to catch his eye, remarked:
"By the way, Steve, do you happen to remember having any odd little tricks as a kid—anything that'd be apt to give your mother and father cause for anxiety in the night?"
Bandy-legs, who had been secretly told concerning the happenings of the night, held his breath; Owen, too, immediately assumed an eager look, and Toby, not knowing what it was all about, stopped eating, and listened.
"In the night—we have tricks, you say? Now, whatever in the wide world can you mean?" asked the apparently astonished Steve.
"Well, like walking in your sleep let's say," continued Max. "Did you ever do such a thing, Steve?"