Messenger No. 48 Part 41

"Three or four days ago."

"Do you know where they went?"

Jet fervently wished he did; but he simply answered "no."

The visitor appeared deeply interested in these men; but his host showed such a disinclination to talk that he finally relapsed into silence.

Jet soon fell asleep, and was so tired that he did not awaken again until an hour or more after sunrise.

To his delight the stranger was no longer, there.

He glanced around leisurely, and to his surprise found that more than the man had disappeared.

The boat, his gun, the store of provisions, and even the pot and frying-pan had taken their departure.

"The thief!" he cried, leaping to his feet, and then a thought which was little less than an inspiration came to him.

"He is one of Bob's gang. That is why he wanted to know so much when I spoke of two men. Jabe probably told him where Bob and Sam were bound for, and he came here hunting them."

CHAPTER XXV

JIM

The idea that he had been tricked by one of the gang he was hoping to run down seemed particularly humiliating, and during at least five minutes Jet stood silent and motionless gazing across the lake.

Then anger took the place of bewilderment, and he managed to say some very vigorous things which might have excited the ire of the gentleman who claimed to be such a skillful cook had he been there to hear.

Scolding doesn't as a rule, make any material difference in a fellow's situation, and this Jet came to understand when he was forced to cease from sheer lack of breath.

"What a fool I'm making of myself!" he exclaimed. "The idea of standing here raving when I ought to be trying to mend matters."

It was difficult, however, when he began to reflect, to decide upon his course.

Should he go toward the town in search of Jim, and also to hire another boat?

That would involve the loss of two days, during which time the officer for whom he had telegraphed might arrive, and, failing to find him, go down the lake on a wild goose chase.

To attempt to search for the men, alone and on foot, seemed the height of folly, and while he stood near the water's edge deliberating upon the question of whether he could replenish his stock of provisions without paying a visit to the settlement, the rustling of the bushes proclaimed an arrival.

Jet looked around, half expecting to see his seedy friend of the previous evening come back to tell him it was all a joke, when the small guide Jim stepped into view.

He was evidently in the best of spirits, and gazed at Jet as if wondering why he was not welcomed more warmly.

"I've made two dollars, though I ain't got 'em yet, since I've been gone," he said, as he threw on the ground in front of the shanty a well-filled bag, "an' now there's as much grub in camp as will last us for a month, providin' we do a little cookin'."

"What made you stay so long?"

"Why, you see, it was to earn the two dollars I was tellin' about. I met a feller the other side of the carry what was askin' if I'd seen two men 'round here fishin', an' we had a real sociable talk----"

"Was that when you were going up to the village?" Jet interrupted.

"Of course."

"And the fellow had black whiskers on his chin, and said he was a guide and cook."

"That's the very one. Have you seen him?"

"I will tell you after your story is finished."

"Well we had a right nice time together. I gave him part of my lunch, an' then he wanted me to come back with him; but I told him I'd got to get to the telegraph office----"

"Did you let him know what you were going there for?" Jet asked, excitedly.

"Of course not, though he tried mighty hard to find out. He was lookin' for a party what's coming through the carry in a day or two, an' has got a job with 'em at four dollars a day. He said they was over to Pine Pond, an' promised to give me two dollars, if I'd see if I could find 'em."

"Why didn't he go?" Jet asked, in a peculiar tone.

"'Cause he didn't know the way."

"Funny kind of a guide not to be better acquainted than a boy who never attempted anything of the kind."

"Well, you see, the most of his work has been done 'round Raquette Lake way."

"So you went over to the pond for him?"

"Yes, it wouldn't take me so very much longer, an' it was earnin' two dollars mighty easy."

"But what about the telegram?"

"Oh, that's all right. He offered to carry it to the village for me, an' to pay the charges out of his own pocket, though it was to be taken from what he owed me when I got back."

"And you gave it to him?" Jet asked, his face growing very pale.

"Yes, it would get there jest the same, an' I'd be helpin' buy the grub," Jim replied, in a matter-of-fact tone, wholly unconscious of the black looks Jet was bestowing upon him. "I couldn't find anybody 'round the pond, an' I reckon the party must have come that very day, for when I got back to the village the man wasn't there; but I'll have the money when he finishes the job."

"Did you ask the telegraph operator if the message had been sent?"

"No; what was the use of that so long as he'd promised to fix everything? But say," Jim cried, suddenly, as he looked toward the water's edge, "where's the boat?"

"Your friend, the Raquette Lake guide borrowed her this morning."

"So he's been here, eh? Did he say anything about meetin' me?"

"Not a word," Jet replied, grimly. "I guess he was too busy getting ready to leave, for he had to pack all our provisions, my gun and the other things which were lying around into the boat."

"What do you mean?" Jim cried, as he gazed about him and failed to see any of their outfit.