As this thought came to him he happened to put his hand into the pocket where he usually kept his money. The pocket was empty. A suspicion for the first time dawned upon him that startled and alarmed him. He made a hurried examination of the ground around him, for he knew that it was possible that the pocketbook had slipped out of his pocket. But his search was fruitless. The pocketbook was nowhere to be seen. Was it possible, he asked himself, that he had been robbed? Was Ben capable of such black treachery? The thought that his companion had proved false disturbed him more at first than the sense of his loss, but he began almost immediately to realize his predicament. Probably he was a hundred miles away from the ranch of his friend Giles Packard. Not only this, but he was without money and without provisions, except the small supply of food which remained over from his frugal breakfast. Then, again, he was without a boat, for the skiff had been carried away by Ben. He was alone in a wilderness. There were very few houses within the distance over which they had traveled. If he had been in any portion of the Eastern States, among settlements and villages, he would not have minded his destitute condition--that is, not so much. He would have felt sure of getting along somehow. But as it was, there was no one to appeal to. There was no one to lend him a helping hand. If only Ben had left him the boat, matters would not have been so bad. He would, of course, have instantly started on his return. He didn't feel at all tempted to explore farther. The fine mountain scenery which he had enjoyed yesterday had no attraction for him now. "I'd give fifty dollars--if I had it"--he added, as the thought came to him that he had no money whatever, "to be back with Giles Packard on his ranch. Shall I ever see him again, or am I doomed to starve to death in this wilderness?" CHAPTER XXXV. RUPERT MAKES A DISCOVERY. It was not easy for Rupert to form plans in his present destitute condition. The money which he had lost was a minor consideration. The boat and provisions were much more important. Besides this, he still had his gun and his watch. Both these were likely to prove useful. He wondered a little why Ben had not taken the watch. But his wonder diminished when he remembered that Boone had told him one day that he had never owned a watch. "How, then, do you tell time?" Rupert inquired. "By the sun," answered Ben. Rupert had tested him more than once, and found that from long and close observation his guide could always guess within a few minutes of the correct time. To Ben the watch had no value, and it didn't occur to him that he might raise money on it when he reached the settlements. Rupert felt that he must lose no time in forming some plan of reaching the point from which he started. He went down to the river, faintly hoping that he might see Ben returning in the skiff, but this he owned to himself was extremely improbable.