“Here they are!” he called. Then, a moment later,
“We’ve been ru-ru-ru-ru-robbed!” yelled Tom.
“What?” cried Dan.
“Oh, it’s one of Tommy’s jokes,” muttered Nelson anxiously as they raced toward where he was standing. But it wasn’t. It needed but one glance to prove that. The contents of the knapsacks were scattered about under the trees, the lunches were gone, and their clothes had evidently been handled. Bob picked up his coat and thrust his hand into a pocket. Then he seized his trousers and went through the same performance. And the others followed suit as though it had been a game of follow-your-leader. Then they all dropped the garments and looked at each other blankly.
“Stripped!” said Dan.
“Every blessed cent gone,” said Nelson. “Watch too!”
“I had twenty-six dollars,” said Tom mournfully.
“You shouldn’t carry so much wealth about with you,” answered Dan with a grin. “It ought to be a lesson to you. I only had eight.”
“You shut up!” growled Tom.
“Well, whoever they were,” said Bob ruefully, “they made a pretty good haul. I had about fifteen dollars. And they got my watch too. But it was only a cheap one.”