nd if we can't get those we can get some pickerel and bass and
perch," added Giant.

Snap had promised to get breakfast ready, and he set in with a will
as soon as he was dressed. While he was working Giant and Whopper
walked down to a cove, where the boat had been left, to look over
their rods and lines. The doctor's son busied himself with a
camera, determined to take a few pictures before leaving the lake
shore.

Suddenly there came from the cove a hurried shouting that instantly
attracted the attention of Snap and Shep.

"What are they saying?" demanded the doctor's son.

"I don't know---something about the boat," answered Snap, and
dropping the coffee-pot he held he ran toward the lake. Shep
set the camera on a box and followed.

When they arrived at the cove they found Giant and Whopper gazing
up and down and across the water in perplexity. The rowboat, with
the larger portion of their outfit, was nowhere to be seen.

"Where's the boat?" demanded Snap.

"That's what we want to know," answered Giant.

"Didn't you leave it tied up?"

"Certainly I did---to this elderberry bush."

"Well, where is it now

"Don't ask me."

"Did Giant tie the boat?" asked the doctor's son. He had not seen
the craft since the parting at the rapids.

"Yes, I did---and I tied it good and fast, too," answered the small
youth. "Snap saw me do it."

"Yes, I saw him tie it up, but I thought maybe he shifted the boat
afterward."

"No, I left it just as it was tied up."

The boy hunters looked blankly at one another. All gazed up and down
the shore and across the lake.

"Maybe Ham Spink-----" began Snap.

"If he took our boat I'll---I'll kick him full of holes!" cried
Giant. He had not forgotten how Spink and his cronies had annoyed
them in the past.

"I don't see any footprints around here," remarked the doctor's son,
looking over the ground carefully.

"Here's a tree branch broken," said Whopper.

"They might have come in a boat and towed our craft away," suggested
Snap.

"Boys, I know why Wags barked during the night!" cried Giant. "He
heard somebody at the boat."

"Yes, and we didn't know enough to come down here," added Snap
bitterly. "If we had come we could have caught the boat-stealers
redhanded."

A lively discussion followed, but it did nothing toward enlightening
the boy hunters. The one fact remained that the boat and a large
portion of the outfit were gone, and unless the craft could be