“Certainly it is. This is the very old stump that I wound the rope about.” “Maybe it came untied and the boat drifted away,” was Jack’s contribution. “The kind of a knot I made doesn’t come loose,” declared Tom, and his chums knew he was seaman enough to make this a certainty. “Then someone has taken her!” declared Bert. “Someone has stolen your boat, Tom. We’re stranded!” [129] [129] CHAPTER XVII AN ANXIOUS SEARCH For several seconds the chums stared at each other in silence. Then Tom burst out with: “Well, wouldn’t that rattle your teeth!” “I should say yes,” chimed in Bert. “There’s no doubt but that she’s gone,” said Jack, slowly. “You don’t need a map to make that plain,” explained Tom, with a sickly grin. “But what makes you think someone took her?” asked Dick, who, perhaps, did not arrive at conclusions as quickly as did the others. “I can’t account for it in any other way,” went on Tom. “The engine couldn’t start itself, that’s sure. I have known it to start on compression, when it was feeling real good, and had had a fine night’s sleep, but those times were few and far between. Besides it would take someone to throw the switch even then. And I know she didn’t drift away, for I had a new bowline on her, and I took particular pains with the knot I tied.” “Then she’s been taken away,” decided Jack. [130] [130] “And the next question is; who took her?” put in Bert.
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