"
Tom came back again.
"I can't find it." he said, hopelessly.
Then ensued a frantic search. Every possible place in the airship
was looked into, but the precious map did not turn up.
"Perhaps the Fogers took it," suggested Mr. Parker, who had helped
in the hunt, in a dreamy sort of fashion.
"That's not possible," said Tom. "They haven't been near enough to
us since I saw the map last. No, the last time I had it was just
before the hail storm, and, in the excitement of repairing the ship,
I have mislaid it."
"Maybe it's back there in the big cave," suggested Ned.
"It's possible," admitted the young inventor. "Pshaw! It's very
careless of me!"
"If you think it's in the cave, we'd better go back there and have a
hunt for it," suggested Mr. Damon. "Otherwise we are on a wild-goose
chase."
"Don't go back!" exclaimed old Abe. "I think we can find th' valley
of gold without th' map, now that we have come this far. I sort of
remember th' marks on that parchment, an' we are in the right
neighborhood now, for I kin see some of th' landmarks my partner and
I saw. I say, let's keep on! We can cruise around a bit until we
strike th' right place. That won't take us so long as it would to go
back to the cave. Besides, if we go back, the Fogers may get ahead
of us!"
"With their broken airship?" asked Ned
"Can't they repair it?" demanded Abe.
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