lake and so come on foot to the camp, had suggested itself to Billy as
he rowed. Mentioning this to Paul he set out, with a small camp lamp in
hand, to explore the shore in the direction indicated.

Thus left alone again Jones was the most dejected and sorrowful young
fellow one could easily imagine. To keep the fire blazing high was all he
could do to be of any possible assistance. Inactivity was hard for him
to bear at any time. Especially was it hard when his thoughts were so
disturbed and his anxiety so great.

It was coming daylight when at last Jones saw the fishing boat
approaching. In it were Phil and Billy and Chip; for Worth, having
traversed the whole upper boarder of the lake without result other than
to tire himself exceedingly, had spent all the latter part of the night
with Way and Slider.

To the great astonishment of these two he had suddenly appeared to them
out of the darkness. He had broken his lamp to bits in a painful tumble
into a dry water course the undergrowth concealed.

Several hours the three lads had then spent alternately dragging the
lake's bottom with hooked poles, looking up and down the steep bank for
footprints, and here and there going some distance back into the woods
vainly searching. Even before the dawn appeared their lamps went out.
With difficulty they had then embarked for the opposite shore. Daylight
came as wearily they worked their heavy craft forward.

The one hopeful fact the boys found in a sorrowful review of the
situation, as they stretched their tired limbs upon the ground, was that
the dragging of the lake in the vicinity where Dave's empty boat was
found had been without result.

"We'll get some rest--a few minutes, anyway, and a cup of coffee, then
we'll see what daylight will do to help us," suggested Phil.

Yet it was scarcely more than sunrise when the search was resumed.
Crossing to the north shore in the skiff, Billy and Paul set about a
minute inspection of the dry earth of the bank and of the woods for a long
distance up and down the water's edge. Leaving Slider in camp, Phil
made the detour of the east shore on foot.

As Way drew near the scene of the fruitless work of the night he
discovered close in shore an old log lying just under the water's surface
and partially imbedded in the earth of the bank. A short, stubby branch
projected its wet and slimy tip an inch or two above the water. A
slivered end that had risen considerably higher was freshly