Difficult it would be to say which party was the more surprised. Certain it was, though Tom and his chums knew that their former teacher intended coming to the vicinity, and though they realized that Sam and Nick had gotten off the train with camping stuff near Wilden, they never expected to meet the three in this spot.
And, for that matter, neither did Mr. Skeel and the two lads, with whom he seemed to be on friendly terms, think to behold Tom, for the former plainly showed the surprise he felt.
“Well what do you know about this?” asked Jack, in a low voice.
“Mind your wheel or you’ll have us on shore,” said Bert. “There’s a big rock just ahead of you.”
Tom shifted the wheel with a rapid turn. He had been so interested in looking at the trio on shore that he had not noticed where he was steering.
“No, don’t,” advised Bert. “There’s no use getting into an argument.”
“And yet we might find out something about them, and what they are doing up here,” insisted Jack, who generally liked to take the initiative.
“I guess we’d better not,” spoke Tom. “Anyhow, they wouldn’t give us any satisfaction. If they hail us we’ll answer, and that’s all.”
But the three on shore evidently had no intention of speaking. After his first stare of surprise Mr. Skeel was seen to speak to Sam and Nick, and then, with a final glance at our friends, the trio turned and plunged back into the woods.
“Well, that’s over--for the time being,” remarked Dick.
“Yes,” assented Bert. “Can you see which way they’re going, Tom?”
“Because they may be going to the same place we are.”
“They don’t know anything about it,” declared Tom.
“How do you know? That story of buried treasure is more or less known all over this section, and the hunt old Wallace is making for it, too. So why shouldn’t Mr. Skeel, and Sam or Nick know of it?”
“Well, maybe you’re right,” agreed Tom. “But we can’t see which way they’re headed. The brush is too thick.”
“We’re not far from the mill, if I’m any judge,” said Jack.
“Why?” Tom wanted to know. “How can you tell? You’ve never been there.”
“No, but there’s a current setting into the lake now, and that means the river isn’t far off. The mill is on the river, so, naturally we’re near the mill. Q. E. D., as we used to say after we’d floundered through a geometry proposition.”