"Yes, it's a good joke," mused Dick; "but I don't believe Uncle Ezra will be the first one to appreciate it."
"Why, that my uncle didn't personally take that envelope," went on Dick. "He must have hired some one to do it for him, just as he tried to get me off my yacht that time."
"And he got badly stung, too!" exclaimed Innis. "Just as he did this time."
"But we mustn't let that make us careless," went on Dick, "Uncle Ezra, if it was he, won't give up so easily. He'll have another try."
"But if he does get the papers so long before the time when you have to turn them over to the courts, Dick, can't you get other copies?" asked Paul.
"Mr. Wardell has left for South America by this time," he said. "It would be almost impossible to trace him now, in time to get him to execute new papers, in case these were lost or taken," and Dick looked at the valuable packet. "Of course I could cable him, if I knew on what ship he had sailed, but I don't.
"To find that out I'd have to go back home, and maybe even then his lawyer wouldn't know. You see Mr. Wardell was so ashamed of how easily he had been fooled that he wanted to get off by himself somewhere. Maybe he didn't leave his address. So I'd have quite a task tracing him.
"He depends on me to do this business for him, since I have undertaken it. He didn't do it himself for two reasons. He didn't have much idea that he could ever get his fortune back, I guess; and, for another reason, he didn't want to lose the only chance he might have to make another in this South American matter. If that is successful, I understand, Mr. Wardell will come in for a big share of the profits.
"Now then, since he has trusted me, and since so much depends on these papers, we've got to take good care of them. I'll hide them in a new place. I guess under the cushions of one of the bunks will do. They can't be gotten away in the night without one of us knowing it," and Dick proceeded to carry his plan into execution.
"But how do you suppose the map was taken last night?" asked Paul.
"It would only be guess work," replied Dick. "Probably some one in an auto sneaked up near us after we were sound asleep, reached in and took the first envelope his fingers met with. That's the most plausible theory, though I don't say it's right."