ages to pull himself out of his scrapes pretty
well most of the time," comforted Dick, although he too feared that Phil
had gotten into some scrape that proved too much for him. Dick's fear
was that Phil had run afoul of the tramps, for neither he nor Garry
knew that LeBlanc was in that vicinity.

Nearly an hour passed, and then Garry sprang to his feet.

"There's no use waiting any longer. Phil would move heaven and earth to
keep up to the agreement that was made as to the hour of return. Now we
must do something. Get your rifle and lariat and hatchet. Stick the
handle of the hatchet inside your trousers so that it will not be so
evident, or better yet, we can do it just before we get to town. Then,
too, we can coil our riatas over one shoulder, and slip our coats on
over them. In that way we won't attract so much attention. The rifles
won't appear to be out of place, for it would be only natural that we
should take them, seeing we are supposed to be campers who will have to
go back through the dark woods to camp. First, before we start, take our
knapsacks, there's nothing in them that we will need, and cache them in
the branches of a nearby tree. Then we'll leg it to town just as fast as
we can."

Before Dick cached the knapsacks, Garry poured all the water in the
canteens on the fire, thoroughly extinguishing it. Then in a trice the
knapsacks were hidden in a tree, and the pair were ready to start for
town.

Garry set a terrific pace at first, until Dick toned him down with:

"Look here, Garry, we don't want to get to town all tuckered out. If we
do we will be useless if it comes to a pinch. I'm just as anxious about
Phil as you are, but we must conserve our strength. We may need it
before the night is over."

"Guess you're right old chap, but I just keep thinking that minutes may
mean more right now than hours would some other time." Nevertheless he
moderated his pace, and in a trifle under an hour they were in the town
of Hobart.

Dick was for making at once to the restaurant to institute inquiries as
to whether or not Phil had been there and when he was last seen. Garry
by this time had grown calmer and cooler and again assumed the
leadership.

"That would be a mighty foolish thing to do. If Phil has gotten into a
scrape, there is just as good a chance that it was in that place as out
in the street. You know we were warned that it wasn't a regular drawing
room by any means. I have an idea, and I think yo