"Well, did you find it?" demanded the captain. "I cannot say that I have--as yet." "I guess that depends on what you're looking for," said the captain, his voice becoming lower, although his excitement was still manifest. "I didn't suppose there would be any such feeling over my coming back to your boat. I have known of other men who neglected to take some things with them when they left home, to say nothing about a motor-boat." "Did you say you found it?" again demanded the captain. "I found something that will do me just as well." For a moment the two men stared at each other, the captain still keenly suspicious or angry, while the expression on the face of Mr. Button was one which the boys were not able to understand. To all appearances he was unruffled by the noisy queries of the captain, and yet what was behind it all no one could say. There was nothing, however, more to be done and in a brief time Mr. Button stepped into his skiff in which the man, who was to be his guide, was still seated. Without any delay the guide picked up his oars and resumed his rowing. Meanwhile the captain remained standing on the deck of the _Gadabout_, glaring at the departing skiff, although he did not utter any sound until the man of whom he was suspicious or afraid had rounded the nearest point. "Better get your leaders, captain, because we want to start," suggested Fred impatient over the long delay. "Humph," grunted the captain. Nevertheless he disappeared below and in a brief time came back to the deck with a box in his hands. "That's the same box you took out this morning, isn't it, Captain?" laughed John. "What's that you say?" roared the sailor. "I said, isn't that the same box of leaders that you took out this morning?" "Well I'll have to own up that it is," said the captain. "I had it in my pocket all the while and I thought I dropped it overboard. We'll make up for lost time now, so get aboard, both of you." To the surprise of the young fishermen, however, the captain did not return to the ground over which he had been fishing at the time of his unexpected return to the _Gadabout_. Instead, he followed swiftly in the direction in which Mr. Button had disappeared. Both boys questioned him sharply concerning the change in their plans, but the only reply their guide made was to explain that he thought the fishing was likely to be better in the direction in which he was going than where they had been before. Fred winked slyly at his companion when several times the captain ceasing his efforts took a glass and drank of the waters of the lake and then taking from his pocket a jointed telescope gazed long and earnestly in the direction in which they were moving. "What's the trouble, Captain? What are you looking for?" demanded Fred. "I wanted to see if that man's got on my ground." "Do you see him anywhere?" "No, I don't. I wish I did." "Who is he, anyway?" inquired John. "You seem to have a pretty wholesome respect for him."