d."

"Try it," suggested Fred.

"That's just what I'll do," said John as he turned to the tent from which
he speedily returned with a pad and pencil.

For a moment no one spoke while John busily made his drawing.

"There," he said as he held it forth to view. "That's just as good as the
original."

"It's a mighty pretty picture," scoffed George. "The only trouble with it
is that no one knows whether it is correct or not."

"Zeke, isn't that drawing all right?" demanded John as he held forth the
paper to the guide.

"It isn't so far wrong," acknowledged Zeke cautiously, "but I guess we'll
be able to do something whether we have any paper or not. I'm more afraid
of those two men than I am that we shan't be able to draw th' picture that
old Sime had in his diary."

All four boys looked keenly into the face of the guide but no one inquired
concerning the meaning of his words.

"Well, the little book is gone, anyway," continued Zeke. "We've got to
decide what we'll do without it. When do you boys want to start?"

"What do you mean? For the lost mine?" demanded Fred.

"That's what I thought you wanted to do."

"Well, we do all right," said Fred quickly. "Are we ready to start?"

"We can be in a few minutes," said Zeke. "I think we can drop down the
river in the two boats. That will be easier than climbing up the cliffs."

"Great!" exclaimed Fred enthusiastically. "How far can we go with the
boats?"

"Ten or twelve miles," answered Zeke. "And when we stop we'll be more than
half way to Thorn's Gulch. It's so much quicker to go by the river than
over land."

"That will be fine," repeated Fred. "Let's get started."

"It's going to be hot in the middle of the day," suggested Zeke warningly.

"All the more reason then for starting right away," said Grant.

"All right," assented Zeke. "We'll put things to rights here in the camp
and then we'll go down to start on our voyage."

The light tent was folded and concealed under the projecting rock nearby.
Most of the cooking utensils also were hidden or at least placed where
they would not attract the attention of any chance visitor. It was
extremely unlikely that any one would come to the place, although among
the parties visiting the Grand Canyon there might be some who would be
attracted by the safe landing place, just as the Go Ahead Boys and their
guides already had been.

"We had better plan to be gone about four days!" spoke up Pete who up to
this time ha