"Monkey Rae again!" exclaimed the colonel. "I should think there was at least half a dozen of him the way he gets around. But what has that got to do with Gerald?"
"Why, Gerald was out here on the landing, and now we can't find him. I don't know what has become of him, or if he is just hiding for fun," explained Rand; "though I don't see where he could hide here," he added.
"Sure of that?" questioned the colonel. "Let's take another look around." Lighting a lantern from the boathouse they made a thorough search of the place without finding anything of their missing comrade.
"Perhaps he got tired of waiting and went home," suggested the colonel.
"That wouldn't be Gerald," averred Rand and Donald. "He wouldn't go off and leave us without saying anything and, besides, he was here when they came, for he gave us the signal."
"Well, he isn't here now," decided the colonel after another look around. "Hello, Gerald!" he called, and the boys sounded the call on their bugles.
"He ought to answer that if he is anywhere around," said Rand.
"Do you think they could have carried him off?" asked Pepper.
"I don't know what to think," replied the colonel. "It's queer.
You boys certainly have an amazing faculty for getting into trouble."
"But how did you get here?" asked Rand.