The Boy Scouts Patrol Part 23

"There is it again," said Gerald, as the sound was repeated.

"It is over this way," declared Jack, designating another direction.

"No, it's over this way," a.s.serted d.i.c.k, but still at variance with the others.

"Wait," said Rand, "maybe we can hear it again."

The boys stood silent for a few moments, when the call came faintly once again.

"It is over this way," declared Rand, leading the way to the right, but, although they stopped from time to time to listen, they did not hear the sound again, nor did they find any trace of their missing comrade. For a half hour or more they continued their search, but in vain, and they were returning to the road when they heard the call again, but so faintly that it was lost almost as soon as heard.

"He is going away," decided Rand. "There is certainly something queer about it."

"In my opinion," began Donald, "'tis no use looking any more."

"Why not?" asked Rand.

"Because it was no mortal sound," replied Donald.

"Nonsense!" exclaimed Rand.

"Nonsense or no," retorted Donald stoutly, "I don't like it."

"What is it, then, Donald, if it isn't mortal?" asked Rand.

"I can no rightly say," responded Donald, "but I don't believe you will ever find him."

"Pooh!" returned Rand; "he may be along any minute."

"Let us go on to Highpoint," proposed Jack, "and see if he has been there."

As nothing better was suggested the boys set out for Highpoint, which they soon reached, and a short hunt enabled them to find Jack Dudley, the leader of the Highpoint Patrol, from whom they learned that Pepper had not been there.

"What time did he start?" asked Dudley.

"Eight o'clock," replied Rand.

"It's very strange," said Dudley. "He may have met with some accident.

I will hunt up our patrol and will help you search for him. If you will go back and start from the point where you searched before we will take up the scout from here and keep on until we find him, or we join forces again, unless you have something better to propose."

"I don't think there is any better way," said Rand, with which the others agreed, and thanking him for his offer, the Uncas boys, now thoroughly alarmed, set out again upon the search.

It was 5 o'clock when they got back to Creston, searching on the way, and Pepper had not returned, or trace of him found.

"What shall we do next?" asked Jack, as they stood undecided in the road.

"What is it now?" asked Colonel Snow, who had come up unperceived.

"We can't find Pepper," answered the boys.

"What is it," went on the colonel, "a game of hide and seek?"

"No, sir," responded Rand; "he went over to Highpoint this morning with a message; I mean he started for Highpoint, but he hasn't been there and he hasn't come back. We are afraid he is lost."

"Lost!" exclaimed the colonel. "How could that be."

"We don't know," answered Jack; "but we have hunted all over for him, and he isn't anywhere about."

"All over?" said the colonel. "He couldn't very well be all over at once, could he? But, come along, and we will see if we can't find him. Which way did he go?"

"On the upper road," answered Rand; "but we have been all along that."

"Well, we'll see if we can't pick up his trail," went on the colonel at once, leading off at a rapid pace. "Did any of you pick it up?"

"There are lots of tracks," replied Rand, "but I did not pick his out."

"Some who are expert, you know, can read tracks as readily as you read the paper. These look much alike, but we will follow them up and see if any diverge or break away from the road."

Walking rapidly along the road the colonel indicated one he thought might be Pepper's track, which the boys followed, with some success, after it had been pointed out until, all at once, the marks indicated that the person had come to a sudden stop and had turned aside.

"He left the road here for some reason," decided the colonel, "or the one who made the trail did. He went through here, you can see how these bushes have been thrust aside."

"I do now," replied Rand, "but I wouldn't have noticed it myself."

"Did he have a dog with him?" continued the colonel, following the trail through the woods.

"No," answered Rand.

"Probably the dog came from the other direction. Looks as if Pepper was trying to get away from the dog. They were both in a hurry. It stops here; he must have taken to a tree."

"Pepper!" he shouted, "where are you?"

But neither his calls nor those of the boys brought any response.

"He isn't here," went on the colonel; "but there has been a disturbance of some kind. There are dog's tracks all around as if the animal had struggled with something, but no footprints. There is the track of a snake, too."

"A snake!" cried Jack, in alarm. "Do you think it could have bitten him?"

"No," said the colonel, "if he had been bitten we would still have his trail. He seems to have vanished into the air."

"I don't see how he could do that," declared Don.

"Neither do I," replied the colonel. "Spread out around the tree and see if you can find where he came down."

But a thorough search failed to reveal, to the investigators, any trace.

"I never saw anything like this," declared the colonel. "He seems to have disappeared completely."

"But where could he have gone?" asked Jack, anxious for the safety of his brother.