“Well, if Ross didn’t take the paddle, who did? Answer me that!”
“I don’t know what became of the paddle, Chips. Red was rather careless though, to leave it lying so close to the river’s edge.”
“Oh, so it’s all my fault?” cried Red.
“Now don’t get huffy. No one is blaming you. On the other hand, we’ve no right to put it on Ross.”
“Just wait until I see that lad,” Chips muttered. “I’ll drag it out of him!”
Brad took Chips by the arm, giving him a little, impatient shake.
“Get hold of yourself,” he advised. “Do you want to stir up bad feeling between Den 1 and Den 2? If you go to Ross and accuse him, you’ll get all of his denmates sore at us.”
“Our Indian pow-wow will turn into full scale war instead of a nice friendly competition,” warned Dan severely. “You can’t do it, Chips.”
“Oh, all right,” the boy growled. “If you’re going to make such a fuss about it, I’ll keep quiet. I’m convinced though, that Ross got away with that paddle! I’ll keep on thinking so too, unless it shows up.”