"But the wind came up after we started, and we couldn't go back to save our lives, you see," she explained, laughing a little hysterically.
"But what does this mean? Where is your camp, boys? It looks as though everything is done up just as you left home," said Mame Crosby, as she eyed the many packages which the others were now busily gathering together.
At that they all looked at each other and burst into roars of laughter.
"It's a long story, girls, and we'll spin it while we sit around the fire having dinner. As it's now long past noon, and there's a heap to do getting the camp fixed again, you must excuse us. Bluff, start the fire going, and the girls can help us out by taking charge of dinner while we build our camp," said Frank.
Things began to assume the old-time air in less than half an hour. Of course, the girls chattered like magpies as they worked, but all their appeals for information fell on deaf ears until they were sitting around, in picnic style, enjoying the splendid dinner, which was helped out by the delicious things brought from home.
"And to think how near we came to feeding the fishes with these, too," said Susie Prescott, as she helped Will to a second portion.
"Now please take pity on us, and explain what has happened. We're just dying by inches to know. What was that tug doing down here, with all those men? And unless I'm mistaken, I saw Mr. Dodd, the sheriff, aboard. He was out hunting those two bad tramps who robbed the steamboat. Oh, boys! Do you mean to say you have had anything to do with them?"
Nellie had brought it to the point where explanations must be in order. So the story was told in detail. Sometimes one of the campers related a certain part, and then another took it up from where he left off.
"And with what views Bluff took for me, I'll have enough to illustrate the whole performance. A few I've missed, and they will always haunt me. Altogether it's been a remarkable series of adventures," declared Will enthusiastically.
"The most astonishing that will ever come our way, I reckon," said Jerry with emphasis.
But though they did not dream of it at that time, there were still stranger things fated to befall the four chums ere many months had passed. These happenings of vacation time will appear in the next volume of this series, to be entitled "The Outdoor Chums in the Forest; or, Laying the Ghost of Oak Ridge," which will tell of the weird experiences our friends met with while investigating the greatest mystery that ever troubled the neighborhood of Centerville.