Certain of their supplies also were missing and the discovery served to increase the feeling of dismay.
"Do you suppose that boat got loose?" inquired Fred, who was the first to speak.
"I don't 'suppose it got loose,'" retorted Grant somewhat gruffly.
"Do you think somebody took it?" again Fred asked.
"If it didn't get loose, please tell me why it's gone? There's only one way the boat could get into the river. One was for it to get loose and the other for somebody to work it loose."
"Then the question is," said George, "who took it?"
"And there isn't much question about that," said Fred confidently.
"Do you think those two men stole the boat? I mean the two that were in our camp last night?"
"I don't know who else could take it," said John. "And it's my fault too, isn't it?"
"In a way it is your fault, all right," said Grant. "You started those men on the trail. If you had kept still no one would have known anything about it."