CHAPTER XIII
LOST IN THE WOODS
Snap had fairly good luck while on the hunt. He shot half a dozen rabbits and one of the plumpest partridges he had yet seen.
As he moved along, he listened for some shots from Shep, but, hearing none, concluded that his chum was having no success.
"It's too bad," thought Snap, at length. "Perhaps I had better go back and get him to come this way."
With his game in his bag and over his shoulder, he retraced his steps to where he had separated from Shep and began to call his chum. Not getting any answer, he started after the other young hunter.
"He must have gone back," he mused, coming to a halt when he was within a hundred feet of the tree in which poor Shep was a prisoner. "And if that is so I may as well go, too. He might at least have waited for me."
Whistling carelessly to himself, Snap made his, way back to the camp. He found nobody at hand, but presently Whopper hove into sight with some fish, followed by Giant.
"Hullo! That's a nice haul!" cried Whopper. "How did Shep make out?"
"I don't know. Isn't he here?"
"I haven't seen him."
"Neither have I," put in the smallest of the young hunters. "I thought he went out with you."
"So he did; but we separated, and I thought he came home, as I couldn't find any trace of him."
"Oh, I guess he'll come along after awhile," observed Whopper.
"Maybe he is trying to bring in an extra lot of game."
"I didn't hear him doing any shooting," answered Snap.
However, he was not much disturbed, and the boys sat around the camp for an hour, waiting for Shep to return. Then they prepared dinner, and while eating talked about the sports still to come.
"I tell you, I don't much like this," said Snap, at last. "I wish
Shep was back in camp."
"Do you think anything has really happened to him?" questioned Giant, quickly.
"I don't know what to think."
"Let us fire a signal."
This suggestion from Whopper met with approval, and they fired a signal long before agreed upon—-two shots in rapid succession. They waited impatiently, but no answering shots came back.
"Let us go out and look for him," said Giant. "Perhaps he has fallen into a hole and broken a leg, or something like that."
"Oh, there are lots of things could happen to a fellow out here," answered Whopper. "But I thought we could trust Shep to take care of himself."
They waited a while longer, and then, putting the camp in order, set out on the hunt for the missing member of the gun club.
It was an easy matter to reach the spot where Snap and Shep had separated. Then they took to the trail Shep had followed, until they came to a bit of a clearing.
"Oh my! look there!" ejaculated Giant, suddenly. "Come back of the bushes, quick, before they see you!"
Having hauled his companions behind the bushes, he pointed to a spot beyond one end of the lake.
"I don't see anything," said Snap.
"I do!" cried Whopper. "Some deer!"
"Yes, three or four of 'em!" cried the little hunter. "Oh, if we could only get at 'em!"
"I think I understand now," came from Snap. "Shep must have gone after those deer."
"Like as not—-and he didn't answer our signal for fear of scaring them," answered Giant.
The sight of deer filled the three young hunters with enthusiasm, and for the moment they gave up the idea of finding Shep. Snap thought he saw a path leading around the lake end, and proposed they go after the game without delay.
"It's our first chance at deer, and it may be our last," he said. "Even if Shep did go after them we may as well do our share toward bringing some of 'em down."
The others were willing enough to go after the deer, and away they went, pushing through the brushwood and over the rocks, in an endeavor to get around the end of the lake which, at this locality, formed a long V-shape, each side overhung with trees and bushes.
They were making good progress, and Whopper was in advance, when the young hunter let out a cry of alarm:
"A snake! A rattlesnake!"
He was right, the rattlesnake was there, and in order to get out of the way of the reptile they rushed pell-mell into the woods until they suddenly found themselves in a swamp over their ankles. They kept on until they reached higher ground and then paused in the midst of some tall brushwood.
"That was certainly a scare!" gasped Giant. "I don't want any rattlesnakes in mine!"
"Nor I," put in Whopper. "Gosh! He was about a hundred feet long!
And did you see the eyes? Regular electric eyes!"
"Phew! It takes Whopper to tell the plain truth," said Snap, with a grin. "But he was bad enough, I admit," he continued. "If he hadn't been I shouldn't have legged it as I did."
"Don't forget that we are out after the deer," said Giant, after the excitement had somewhat died away. "What direction is the game, anyway?"
They looked around them and then for the first time noticed that they were surrounded by tall trees, which all but shut out the sunlight. Then the sun went under a cloud, making it quite dark.
"Come on, this is the way," said Whopper, and the others followed him without question, but they seemed to get deeper and deeper into the forest, and at last came to a halt close to the base of a series of big rocks.
"I think we have missed it," said Snap, gazing around sharply.
"Missed it?" queried Giant. "What do you mean?"
"I mean we are not getting around the end of the lake at all."
"Do you think we are lost?"
At this the leader of the gun club shrugged his shoulders.
"You can put it that way if you wish, Giant."
"Oh, dear! I don't want to be lost!"
"Oh, we are not lost!" put in Whopper, briskly. "Come on."
"Do you want to climb over the rocks, Whopper?" asked Snap.
"No; let us go around them."
They attempted to do this, only to find themselves caught in a tangle of undergrowth from which it was almost impossible to extricate themselves. Then they came out at a point that was all but surrounded by big rocks. It was now so dark they could scarcely see in any direction.
"We may as well face the truth, fellows," said Snap. "We are lost."
"Lost!" came from both of the others.
"Yes, lost. And how we are to get out of the mess I don't know."
"Well, this is the worst yet!" came with a groan from Whopper. "We start out to find Shep and end up by getting lost. If he is back in camp he will have the laugh on us."
"This means good-by to the deer," said Giant. "But I don't care—-if only we get back to camp in safety."
"Let us climb a tree and look around," suggested Snap.
This advice was followed, but try their best they could not locate their camp, although they saw Firefly Lake at a distance to the south of them. The sun was setting behind a bank of clouds and soon it grew positively black beneath the trees.
It must be admitted that the young hunters felt in anything but a cheerful frame of mind. Giant suggested that there might be more rattlesnakes at hand, and this made all nervous and on constant guard against reptiles.
"Are we going to stay here all night?" demanded Whopper, after a spell of silence.
"I don't see what else we can do," answered Snap.
"If we do have to stay, I am going to have a fire," put in Giant. "And somebody ought to remain on guard."
"To be sure, Giant. All of us can take turns at watching and at keeping the fire going."
Wood was handy, and finding something of a cleared space, they built a fire and over this cooked the single squirrel Giant had brought down shortly after leaving the regular camp. It was not much of a meal, but it was all they had, and with it they had to be content.
Even with one on guard, it was rather hard for the other two to go to sleep, though they were worn out by their long tramping around. They slept only by fits and starts, and they were glad enough when morning came and they saw the sunlight stealing over the tree-tops.
"And now for the camp!" cried Snap. "I hope nothing has happened there during our absence."