"Then, if we had at once set up a search for the assassin," Will went
on, "we might have discovered him."

"Not in a thousand years, in this wild country!" exclaimed Tommy.

Will went to the door and looked out toward the east.

"It will be daylight directly," he said, "and then we will see what can
be accomplished in the way of finding clues."

"Nix on the clue!" argued Tommy. "The gink who bumped our friend on the
cupola came after the paper. He got the paper and ducked, and that's all
there is to it! If there were any secret communications concerning our
mission in the paper, the robber got them!"

"And where does that leave us?" asked Sandy.

"Up in the air!" grumbled Tommy.

"So far as I can see," Will stated, "you boys have the situation sized
up correctly! The boy was sent here to convey certain information to me.
He made his way to the cabin before being attacked. Then he was struck
down and the important paper abstracted from the envelope."

"I've got an idea!" cried Tommy springing to his feet and walking up and
down the cabin floor. "I've got a bully idea!"

"Pass it around," advised Sandy.

"This lad wasn't followed in at all!" Tommy went on. "The man who
attacked him and stole the paper was waiting for him at this cabin! The
lad was mistaken for the boy whose name appears on the envelope, and so
he got what was meant for some one else!"

"But look here," George argued, "if the assassin was waiting here for
the boy to come, why didn't he jump us as soon as we made our
appearance?"

"That's another question I can't answer," Tommy admitted. "I might say
that the man reached the cabin and found this boy sitting here alone,
but that would be only guess work."

Will arose and walked over to the bunk where the wounded boy lay.

"Half a dozen words from his lips would settle the whole question," he
said, "but it appears to me that it will be a long time before he will
be able to speak a word. All our Boy Scout learning in the matter of
wounds is ineffective here!"

"There's one thing clear to me," George argued, "and that is that some
one in this wild region now knows more about our mission here than we do
ourselves. Of course, Will may know quite a lot regarding it," he added,
with a wink, "but, if he does, he hasn't yet confided the story to us."

"That's a hint that you get busy and tell us what we're here for,"
suggested Tommy with another wink.

"I'll tell you what I know about the matter,