The Outdoor Chums at Cabin Point | Page 9

get his proper sight back; after which he stared again at the open bag on the floor.
"You're dead sure you put them in the bag, are you, Will?" questioned the skeptical Jerry.
"Of course I am!" he was indignantly told. "But I can't understand where these silly things came from. They don't belong to me, that's sure."
"Hello! here's a mystery all right," said Bluff, scrambling to his feet and hurrying over to the other; in which action he was immediately imitated by the other two.
"Well, I declare that's queer!" burst out Jerry; "a lot of golf balls, a white sweater, and a pair of rubber-soled shoes! Why, Will, what has happened?"
"I'm sure I don't know," said the bewildered one, shaking his head sadly. "Here I pack my films and a few other little things in this new bag, and start out. Then when I open it, see what I get! Who's been playing a trick on me, I'd like to know?"
"Wait a minute," interrupted Frank, just when the injured one was beginning to frown and look suspiciously at Bluff and Jerry; "nobody here has had a hand in the thing, Will; but I think I know what happened."
"Then for goodness' sake, Frank, hurry up and tell us!" cried Bluff; "for Will here is beginning to have awful thoughts, and looks at me as if he could eat me."
"Yes, please explain the mystery, Frank, if you can," pleaded Will.
"To my mind it's as simple as anything could well be," began the other, soberly.
"You remember our meeting on the road with the young chap calling himself Gilbert something or other? Well, I happened to notice that the bag he carried was as near like your new one as two peas could be. When he hurried away to catch his train in his excitement he must have unconsciously picked up the wrong bag!"
"Then this one belongs to him, does it?" asked Jerry.
"Don't you remember," remarked Frank, "his saying something about his being runner-up in the amateur class of golfers, and that he was going to a tournament right then, which accounted for his haste?"
Will uttered a deep groan. He was evidently very much dejected over the unfortunate accident that had befallen him so early in their outing.
"What tough luck I've struck!" he said, as he stared down at the golf balls, as useless to him as so many stones. "I do hope that chap won't be so mad when he finds out what he's done as to destroy my precious films. What if he went and put a match to them? You know they'd flame up something fierce, and it'd be good-bye to all my hard work up in Maine."
"Oh! the chances are small that he'd be so venomous as all that," returned Frank, "especially when he must know it was all his own fault."
"But what do you think he'll do about it?" questioned Bluff.
"If I were Gilbert," suggested Jerry, drily, "my first job would be to hire some caddy with a heavy foot to kick me good and hard. Then I'd set out to get a new sweater and another supply of golf balls. Later on I'd make it a point to head back this way and hunt you up, to apologize humbly and to hand over your bag intact."
"Well said, Jerry," was Frank's hearty commendation.
Will picked up a little hope at that. Perhaps after all matters might not be quite so bad as they looked at first glance. Even if he did lose a week of time, there were plenty of other things he could be doing, since he had his camera and flashlight apparatus intact.
"Thanks, Jerry. I guess you are right," he told the other. "Every cloud has a silver lining, they say, if only you look for it. I'll try to hope for the best after this. My precious films may come back to me again undamaged. I hope so, anyway; but you know there's no telling what a fellow may do when in a sudden rage."
"Think again, Will," said Frank. "We all agreed that this Gilbert fellow was as cool a customer as we'd ever met. Now the chances are he'll grasp the situation at a glance, laugh at his blunder, put your bag safely away, and hustle to remedy the mistake so as not to be left out of the tournament. Believe that, Will, for your own peace of mind."
So the forlorn chum finally fastened the bag and hung it on a peg.
"I hope to see it give way to my own bag by the time a week or so has passed," he forced himself to say.
As the afternoon was getting well along the boys busied themselves with what appeared to be the most urgent duties. Such things as roof mending and the like could wait for another