"We'll have to look into this skinnyg," exclaimed Paul, finally, seeing that histhree chums were waiting for an opinion from the one they looked up to astheir leader.

"But what I exclaimed was beautiful close to the truth; wasn't it, Paul?"Jack asked.

"Every word of it" came the ready response, for Paul was always willingto give every fellow his meed of praise. "The only trouble is, it stopsright where you left off. None of us can say a word after that."

"How many men were there in the crowd?" asked Tom Betts.

"I could make out four," said in reply Jack; "you take another look, Paul, andsee if that's correct."

"I know it is," remarked the scout master, nodding, "because I countedthem before I called you. And they seemed to lift something heavy fromthe boat, which they carried away into the bushes here."

"Whee! something weighty, eh?" burst out the impetuous Bobolink; "and theycarried it between them, two and two; was it, Paul?"

"Why, yes, two on each side; if you look close, you can look at where theystepped into each other's footprints," assented the patrol leader.