he could take them straight to the spot where
they had left the boats.

But Frank soon began to think he had started on the wrong tack, for he
failed to make the anticipated discovery. He stopped and looked blankly
around him.

"Well, I declare!" he emitted, with a grunt. "I sure thought I knew this
old place, and could take you straight to the canoes; but seems like
I've got twisted around some. Things look different when you start to
observe them from the back."

"Perhaps it isn't just what you think," said Ned, quietly.

"Is there anything wrong?" demanded Jack, while poor Jimmy's lower jaw
fell, and he could only stand there and stare.

"The worst almost that could have happened to us," Ned replied sadly.

"The boats were here then, and have been stolen?" asked Frank
breathlessly, while he as well as the other boys turned pale with
apprehension, for it was a genuine calamity that faced them now.

"Look there and there, and you'll see where they rested among the
reeds," Ned told them. "Yes, and here's a piece of greasy paper I
remember seeing Jimmy toss overboard, when he was getting out of his
boat. We've struck our one bad streak, after all, boys, I'm sorry to
say. They ran on our boats, and we're left in the lurch up here, five
hundred miles from anywhere!"

CHAPTER XIV.

BLINDING THE TRAIL.

For almost a full minute nobody said a word. Indeed, the tremendous
nature of this discovery seemed to have very nearly paralyzed them, so
that one and all could only stand there and stare at the places where
they could tell their prized canoes had recently rested.

Jimmy was the first one to arouse himself, and it was hot anger that
caused him to show so much activity.

"P'raps they haven't gone far, Ned, and if we got a hustle on we might
manage to ketch up with the measly skunks. If they try to pack our boats
through the woods, they'll have a time of it, let me tell you. Are we
agoin' to give chase? Oh! I'm as fresh as a daisy right now. Seems like
I could run for hours, if I had an idea I'd overtake the canoe thieves."

Ned shook his head.

"No use, Jimmy," he told the furious scout; "because they haven't
carried our boats ashore. If you look, you'll see where they paddled out
on to the river. You remember, we hid all traces of our own passage, yet
here you can see a wide swath among the reeds, bending them back."

They saw that he spoke the truth, even Jimmy admitting the sad facts
with a groan