"Well, then, for goodness' sake, shut up!" laughed Tom.
It had been like this all the way back, Tom setting down his can at intervals and laughing in spite of himself at Roy's nonsense.
When they reached the boat Roy looked inside and called Pee-wee.
"Where is our young hero, anyway?" he said.
But "our young hero" was not there. They poured the gas into the tank and then went inside where Roy discovered the note in the saucepan. He read it, then handed it to Tom and the two stood for a moment staring at each other, too surprised to speak.
"What do you suppose has got into him?" exclaimed Tom.
"Search me; unless he's mad because we left him here."
Tom looked about as if in search of some explanation, and as usual his scrutiny was not unfruitful.
"It looks as if he had started to get supper," said he: "there's the rice——"
A sudden inspiration seized Roy. Pulling out the recipe book from his duffel bag he opened it where the letter to Mary Temple lay. "I thought so," he said shamefacedly. "I left the end of it sticking out to mark the place and now it's in between the leaves. That's what did the mischief; he must have found it."