“Ju—just what do you mean, Sandy? Have you found it?”
“You bet we have. Toma and I found it in your absence. It’s not down the river at all. It’s over there in the brush, just where they carried it after smashing it up with rocks. We must have slept like logs not to have heard them.”
Dick thrust his two arms into the water over the side of the canoe and commenced to bathe his hot, sweat-streaked face.
“Well, it doesn’t matter now. We have this.”
“Yes, thanks to you. What do you say we leave this accursed place before something else happens? Toma and I can bring over the luggage while you sit there and rest a bit. You need it. When we saw you first, I’m only exaggerating a little when I say you were travelling at the rate of twenty knots an hour.”
“I’ll admit I was frightened.”
“You must have been. Next time we want to get a little speed in a pinch, I’m going to frighten you myself.”
“Cut out the talking, Sandy, and let’s start. I’m afraid to linger here much longer. Don’t forget that we’ve stirred up a hornets’ nest by taking a flying shot at Messrs. Brennan and McCallum, and now have added insult to injury by appropriating their canoe.”
“Serves ’em right.”
“Please——”