t of the bushes was made by
the wind, and no other sound reached his ears.

But he might be mistaken after all! The most convincing premonitions
were sometimes wrong! He would give Tom ten minutes more, and he sank
down in a crouching position, where he would offer the least target for
the eye.

The appointed time passed, and neither sight nor sound revealed any sign
of Tom Ross. Then Henry awakened Shif'less Sol, and whispered to him all
that he had seen.

"Whatever took Jim and Paul has took him," whispered the shiftless one
at once.

Henry nodded.

"An' we're bound to look for him right now," continued Shif'less Sol.

"Yes," said Henry, "but we must stay together. If we follow the others,
Sol, we must follow 'em together."

"It would be safer," said Sol. "I've an idee that we won't find Tom, an'
I want to tell you, Henry, this thing is gittin' on my nerves."

It was certainly on Henry's, also, but without reply he led the way into
the bushes, and they sought long and well for Silent Tom, keeping at the
same time a thorough watch for any danger that might molest themselves.
But no danger showed, nor did they find Tom or his trail. He, too,
had vanished into nothingness, and Henry and Sol, despite their mental
strength, felt cold shivers. They came back at last, far toward morning,
to the bank of the creek. It was here as elsewhere a narrow but deep
stream flowing between banks so densely wooded that they were almost
like walls.

"It will be daylight soon," said Shif'less Sol, "an' I think we'd better
lay low in thicket an' watch. It looks ez ef we couldn't find anything,
so we'd better wait an' see what will find us."

"It looks like the best plan to me," said Henry, "but I think we might
first hunt a while on the other side of the creek. We haven't looked any
over there."

"That's so," replied Shif'less Sol, "but the water is at least seven
feet deep here, an' we don't want to make any splash swimmin'. Suppose
you go up stream, an' I go down, an' the one that finds a ford first kin
give a signal. One uv us ought to strike shallow water in three or four
hundred yards."

Henry followed the current toward the south, while Sol moved up the
stream. The boy went cautiously through the dense foliage, and the creek
soon grew wider and shallower. At a distance of about three hundred
yards lie came to a point where it could be waded easily. Then he
uttered the low cry that was their signal, and went back to mee