FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131  
132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   >>  
"No-o-o!" replied Tim, his answer rising and falling in a circumflex through a half-dozen notes of the scale. _"Then he is lost!"_ "What?" fairly shrieked the Irishman. "He is lost in the woods." Howard had little heart to go over the experiences of the afternoon. He simply told his friend that he and Elwood had separated on their return, and he had been unable to find him again. "What did you separate for?" asked the listener. "Because I was a fool; but O, Tim, there is no use of regretting what has been done. If Elwood is lost, I shall never leave this place." After a while Howard became more composed, and they conversed rationally upon the best plan for them to follow. Tim O'Rooney was strenuous in his belief that Elwood had wandered off among the hills, and finding it growing dark, had sought some secure shelter for the night. He was sure that he would give vigorous signs of his whereabouts as soon as day dawned. There was something in the daring nature of the boy that made it probable that Tim was right. Tempted out of his path by some singular or unexpected sight, he had wandered away until he found it too dark to return, and so had made the best of the matter and camped in some tree, or beneath the ledge of some projecting rock. Such was the theory of Tim O'Rooney, and so ingeniously did he enforce it that Howard could not avoid its plausibility. None knew better than he the impulsive nature of the boy, and such an act upon his part would be in perfect keeping with similar exploits. There was but one thing that raised a doubt in the mind of Howard--and slight as was this, it was enough to give him sore uneasiness, and at times almost to destroy hope. At the time the boys separated, Elwood had shown a great anxiety to reach Tim, and proposed his plan in the belief that it would bring them together the more quickly. This made it seem improbable to Howard that he would have allowed anything to divert him from his course unless his personal safety caused him to do so; but Tim said that if such were the case they would have heard his gun. "Do you s'pose he's the boy to lit a wild animal or any of them red gintlemen step up to him without his tachin' thim manners? But he's the youngster that wouldn't do the same. You'd hear that gun of his cracking away as long as there was any lift for him to crack." "It may be as you think, Tim, but I believe it is worse. Suppose he is in the hands of
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115   116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131  
132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   141   142   143   144   145   146   147   148   149   150   151   >>  



Top keywords:
Howard
 

Elwood

 

nature

 
belief
 

wandered

 

Rooney

 

return

 

separated

 

plausibility

 

impulsive


anxiety

 
raised
 

uneasiness

 
proposed
 
slight
 

exploits

 

destroy

 

keeping

 

similar

 

perfect


personal

 

wouldn

 

youngster

 

manners

 

tachin

 
Suppose
 

cracking

 

gintlemen

 

divert

 

allowed


improbable

 

quickly

 
safety
 

animal

 

caused

 

probable

 

separate

 

listener

 

Because

 

friend


unable
 
regretting
 

simply

 

circumflex

 

falling

 
replied
 

answer

 
rising
 
experiences
 

afternoon