er,
disgusted.

"Of course," continued Owen, "there is always a chance that Eli may have
gotten twisted in his bearings. Any fellow might do that under stress of
excitement, no matter what his knowledge of woodcraft may be. I've been
there myself, and as all my life was spent in the timber I ought to be
free from such a trouble if any one might. So, perhaps it would be wise,
before we try to sally out and look for signs of our comrade, to shoot
off a gun a few times, and see whether he makes any reply. What do you
say?

"Just what I was about to propose myself. Three shots is the usual
signal, but with Eli's shotgun we can only knock out two. Nevertheless,
here she goes."

So saying he blazed away with both barrels, allowing a margin of a few
seconds to occur between the shots.

Then both lads bent their ears and listened carefully.

The night breeze was sighing among the pines and hemlocks, but it
carried no answering sound to their waiting ears.

When several minutes had gone by Cuthbert thrust a couple more shells
into the barrels of the gun and once more let go.

Again silence alone repaid their anxious attention.

If the missing one heard those signal shots he was in no condition to
reply, and that would mean, of course, that he must be in trouble.

Cuthbert looked at his friend.

"It doesn't seem to be of any use. After that I can't doubt but what
something uncomfortable has happened to Eli. He's a jolly fellow, and I
think the world of him. If any harm came to pass I'd feel wretched, for
it was my foolish idea that brought him up here," he said
disconsolately.

"Oh, I wouldn't feel that way about it. A fellow like Eli must run a
certain amount of risk, no matter where he is. If he wasn't here he'd be
logging, and taking his life in his hand every hour, with trees falling
in the wrong direction, log jams occurring in the spring rise and the
lumber jacks risking death in the effort to free the king-pin that holds
the jam. Oh, no, Eli has no fault to find with the way you've treated
him; indeed, he's had a snap, and knows it. But we must be doing
something, if you feel too anxious to wait until morning."

"It must now be ten o'clock, and that would mean many hours. Can
anything be done in the night? How could we follow his trail without a
hound? What wouldn't I give to have a good dog just now, such as my old
Bunker down home in Virginia. You take charge, and order me around as
you see fit. I'm ready