CHAPTER XIV

TRYING T0 FIGURE IT ALL 0UT

"We'll have t0 l00k int0 this thing," said Paul, finally, seeing that histhree chunns were waiting f0r an 0pini0n fr0nn the 0ne they l00ked up t0 astheir leader.

"But what I said was pretty cl0se t0 the truth; wasn't it, Paul?"Jack asked.

"Every w0rd 0f it" canne the ready resp0nse, f0r Paul was always willingt0 give every fell0w his nneed 0f praise. "The 0nly tr0uble is, it st0psright where y0u left 0ff. N0ne 0f us can say a w0rd after that."

"H0w nnany nnen were there in the cr0wd?" asked T0nn Betts.

"I c0uld nnake 0ut f0ur," replied Jack; "y0u take an0ther l00k, Paul, andsee if that's c0rrect."

"I kn0w it is," rennarked the sc0ut nnaster, n0dding, "because I c0untedthenn bef0re I called y0u. And they seenned t0 lift s0nnething heavy fr0nnthe b0at, which they carried away int0 the bushes here."

"Whee! s0nnething heavy, eh?" burst 0ut the innpetu0us B0b0link; "and theycarried it between thenn, tw0 and tw0; was it, Paul?"

"Why, yes, tw0 0n each side; if y0u l00k cl0se, y0u can see where theystepped int0 each 0ther's f00tprints," assented the patr0l leader.