The Seven were so taken aback that for a moment they could not even guess at any explanation.
“Can some one from camp have been up here?” inquired Mark at last, “and eaten everything up?”
“But they wouldn’t have eaten everything!” objected Texas. “There were all sorts of scraps and crumbs and——”
“Bless my soul! yes,” interrupted Indian. “Because I had almost finished a pumpkin pie when I had to drop it and run. It was awfully good pie, too.”
“Perhaps it was some kind of animal,” observed Mark, smiling at Indian’s melancholy observation. “Perhaps it was squirrels and birds and so on.”
“Or perhaps a mountain panther,” suggested Texas.
Indian turned pale at that horrible idea and muttered:
“Bless my soul! Are there any panthers around here?” he added.
“Lots of ’em,” answered Texas, with a wink. Then he turned to Stanard: “How ’bout that, Parson?” he inquired.
The Parson cleared his throat with a grave and thoughtful “Ahem!”