Leaving the queer looking contrivance outside the door, Bud hurried in as though something that he had suddenly thought of was bothering him. A minute later he burst into view again, a row of wrinkles across his forehead and words of alarm sounding from his lips.
"I can't find it anywhere," he lamented, "and I'm dead sure I left it there on the pile of blankets. Hugh, somebody's been in the shack while we were away, and cribbed the plan for my aeroplane stability device!"
CHAPTER VI
A RED LETTER DAY IN THE WOODS
Both Hugh and Ralph looked serious when their comrade made this announcement.
"That's a tough deal on you, old fellow!" said the latter, feeling that it must mean considerable to Bud to have his idea stolen just when it was giving promise of being a signal success.
"Sure you left them there on the pile of blankets, are you?" asked ever practical Hugh.
"That's right, he did," Ralph volunteered. "I remember seeing some papers there when I went out, and I was the last to leave, you know. And you say that they've clean disappeared, have they, Bud?"
"Come on in and see if either of you have sharper eyes than I seem to have," the other scout demanded.
Accepting the invitation, Hugh and Ralph bustled about for several minutes, hunting all through the interior of the shack, but without any success.