o
doubt, with abundant reason.

Mrs. Bowlby was told of the mishap that had befallen her absent lord,
when she was asked by Edith to come over in the evening, but she was
assured that there was no cause for alarm, and so she felt none. She
wrote a letter to her husband, as did the wife of Hardin, and Fred's own
mother. These constituted all the extra luggage that he was to take, for
it would have been oppressive to load him with any thing in the nature
of a burden when the hunters had been absent only a few days.

The decision was that Fred should make his start at early dawn the next
day. It was his purpose to reach camp on the fourth day; that would be
only an ordinary tramp for a rugged youngster like him, and he was
confident that he would have no trouble in keeping to the trail that had
been ridden over so recently by his friends.

The little personal articles, as they may be called, which the lad would
require, were mostly the same as those of his father, and could be
utilized by the son. Such, as from the nature of things, could not
answer for both were tied into a compact package with his linen and
strapped over his shoulders with a thick blanket. His powder horn and
bullet pouch were not forgotten. An extra flint for his rifle was placed
in his pocket, and the weapon, which belonged to the lad himself, was
slung over his shoulder after the manner of a professional hunter. Then
making sure that nothing had been left behind, Fred gave his sister and
mother a warm hug and kiss apiece, called to them a jaunty good-by, and
set his face toward the Ozark mountains.

It had become known that he was to start on quite a lengthy journey, and
those who were astir at that early hour called their hearty good wishes
to the lad, who was popular with all. Fred looked for Terry, and seeing
nothing of him, shouted his name as he passed by his door, but receiving
no response, concluded that he was still asleep.

The heart of the boy was light as he strode at a rapid pace across the
clearing. He felt no inconvenience from the bruises received the day
before, during the passage of the rapids, and his natural buoyancy
caused him to look upon the tramp through the woods as a school boy
views his long expected vacation. There was no fear of any peril in the
stretch of unbroken forest that opened before him. It was fortunate
indeed for his peace of mind that he did not know what was awaiting him
in the dark arches and labyrinths of