"I wasn't crazy! This boat was took out last night.

See here!" He held up the gasoline measuring stick which he had grabbed up and plunged into the tank.

The instrument was almost dry.

The receptacle for fuel was nearly empty.
"And I filled her before I started out!" thundered the captain.
"Whoever took my boat must have run her a long ways." Fresh fuel was soon obtained, and the captain, after more shouted farewells, started for the island to try to obtain some clue to the mysterious happenings of the night.
Rob, after watching him for a few moments, as he sped down the blue waters of the sunlit inlet, turned away to return to his home, just recollecting that, in their eagerness to search for the boat, both he and the captain had entirely forgotten about breakfast.

He was in the middle of the meal, and eagerly explaining to his interested parents the strange incidents of the missing boat and the decoy note, when Merritt Crawford burst into the room unannounced.
"Oh, I beg your pardon!" he apologized, abashed.