"I wouldn't carry another can of gas this far for a prince's ransom--whatever in the dickens that is. Look at the blisters on my hand, will you? Gee, I'm so hungry I could eat a package of tacks. I bet Pee-wee's been throwing duck fits. Never mind, we did a good turn. 'We seen our duty and we done it noble.' Some grammar! They ought to put us on the cover of the manual. Boy scouts returning from a gasoline hunt! Good turn, turn down the gas, hey? Did you ever try tracking a freight train? It's terribly exciting." "Keep still, will you!" said Tom, setting down his can. "Can't you see I'm spilling the gasoline? Don't make me laugh." "The face with the smile wins," Roy rattled on. "For he ain't no slouch, but the lad with the grouch---- Pick up your can and get off the track--safety first!" "Well, then, for goodness' sake, shut up!" laughed Tom. It had been like this all the way back, Tom setting down his can at intervals and laughing in spite of himself at Roy's nonsense. When they reached the boat Roy looked inside and called Pee-wee. "Where is our young hero, anyway?" he said. But "our young hero" was not there. They poured the gas into the tank and then went inside where Roy discovered the note in the saucepan. He read it, then handed it to Tom and the two stood for a moment staring at each other, too surprised to speak. "What do you suppose has got into him?" exclaimed Tom. "Search me; unless he's mad because we left him here." Tom looked about as if in search of some explanation, and as usual his scrutiny was not unfruitful. "It looks as if he had started to get supper," said he: "there's the rice----" A sudden inspiration seized Roy. Pulling out the recipe book from his duffel bag he opened it where the letter to Mary Temple lay. "I thought so," he said shamefacedly. "I left the end of it sticking out to mark the place and now it's in between the leaves. That's what did the mischief; he must have found it." "You ought to have torn it up before we started," said Tom. "I know it, but I just stuck it in there when I was brushing up my memory on rice cakes, and there it's been ever since. I ought never to have written it at all, if it comes to that." Tom made no answer. They had never mentioned that incident which was such an unpleasant memory to them both. "Well, we've got to find him, that's all," said Tom. "Gee, it seems as if we couldn't possibly get along without Pee-wee now," Roy said. "I never realized how much fun it would be having him along. Poor kid! It serves me right for----" "What's the use of thinking about that _now_?" said Tom, bluntly. "We've just got to find him Come on, hurry up, get your flashlight. Every minute we wait he's a couple of hundred feet farther away." For the first time in all their trip, as it seemed to Roy, Tom's spirit and interest were fully aroused. He was as keen as a bloodhound for the trail and instinctively Roy obeyed him.