"WE MUST CUT AND RUN FOR IT!"
It was surprising to see the effect of the cowboy's announcement.
Frank was in some measure prepared for it. He had entertained a sudden suspicion as he noticed the emotion of the other. But his chums seemed almost thunderstruck.
"Tell me about that, will you!" said Jerry, feebly waving his hands.
"Did you ever hear of such luck?" ejaculated Will.
"Beats a story all hollow. Here's the prodigal son found at last, eating his dinner with the—" began Bluff, when Jerry pounced on him.
"Don't you dare finish that, on your life! Of course, you can call yourself swine, if you please, but I object. But is it really true, Reddy? Are you Hank's long lost brother?" he asked, turning to the other.
"
I certainly am, although I ought to be ashamed of the way I've treated my folks. All for a measly little matter, too. My eyes have been openin' lately, and I was mighty near headin' Eastways before you came," said the cowboy, hanging his head.
"Then perhaps you'll go back with us, and surprise the folks?" suggested Frank eagerly.
"Well, now, I'd like to do that same, if so be you fellows mean it. You see, my folks ain't always lived in Centerville. I thought that lots of things you talked about seemed kinder familiar to me, for I was brought up in that part of the State. Yes, I'll go home, and try and make up for what I done to hurt the old folks. Somehow, just the idea of it makes me feel better."
He eagerly questioned the boys about his people. Of course, they did not have much news to tell him. Hank was only a year or so older than his brother, and the absent one was very much interested in hearing how they had met him, and what awakened Hank to a consciousness of the terrible mistake he was making in associating with unscrupulous men.
After that Reddy assumed a new place with the boys. He seemed to be closer to them than ever, and Frank no longer wondered why the other's
sunburned face had seemed partly familiar to him when he first met him.
"You and Hank are very much alike," he said, later on, to Reddy.
"They used to say that at home. I was just big enough to be accused of many of Hank's tricks, and once I got a lickin' he deserved."
"And another thing," laughed Frank, "I know now what he was about to tell me at the time I was dragged away by my folks. I was asking him how I could ever recognize you, in case we met, and he put up his hand to his head, but I never heard the rest of it."
"Why, of course, he was going to tell you that I had a mop of beautiful red hair, and that Teddy went with Reddy. I guess you'd have known me if you'd heard that," was the good-natured remark of the found one.
On the following day the four outdoor chums determined to set out in a bunch to have a grand hunt, following the dense woods far down the valley. The last words of the old stockman were a caution in connection with the dry grass.
"Be careful about a fire, lads. If you make one, be sure the last spark is out before you leave it. A forest fire would play the mischief just now, with everything so dry. But somehow, I've got hopes that the rain is coming soon," and he
looked into the west, as though the few low-down clouds gave him encouragement.
When noon came the boys had put up a couple of elk, but at such a distance that no one but Bluff fired, and he because he knew no better.
"Do you think I wounded him?" he had the nerve to ask, whereat Jerry looked at Frank and just smiled broadly.
"Anyhow, they ran off faster after I fired," asserted Bluff confidently.
"I should think anything would," was all Jerry said, and if there was malice in the remark Bluff did not know it in his innocence.
While they sat down to eat the lunch they had carried along Frank called attention to the fact that the wind had risen.
"Perhaps Mr. Mabie was right, after all, and there is a rainstorm coming before long," suggested Will.
"Then I hope it'll have the decency to hold off until we get home," said Bluff.
"Oh, a little wetting wouldn't hurt us. We're not made of sugar or salt. But perhaps we'd better not go any further. We've come a long way since breakfast. This valley seems to have no end, and it broadens out down here, too."
"Yes; and, Frank, have you noticed how thick the trees grow, too? Why, in some places a fat
man would have trouble getting through between the trunks," said Jerry.
"What ails Frank? He seems to be sniffing the air like a hound," asked Will.
"Oh, he always declared he had a fine scent, and I've noticed that he knows when dinner is ready, ahead of the rest of us," remarked Jerry.
Frank laughed good-naturedly.
"To tell the truth, I was wondering, fellows, whether we could be near another camp," he remarked.
"Did you hear anybody shout?" asked Will.
"No; but when there came a sudden shift to the wind I thought I got a scent of fire. No, it wasn't cooking, this time, Jerry, so don't get ready to accuse me of that weakness again; just something burning."
"Say! you don't think it could be the woods afire, do you?"
"Talk to me about your ghost-seers, will you! Will, here, can jump on to trouble quicker than any fellow I know. Why, if the woods were on fire, don't you think we'd have found that fact out before now, Mr. Faint Heart? I guess such a thing couldn't happen without a heap of smoke that would look like a pall, and appal us, in the bargain."
"Well, all I can say is, I'm not hankering after
any forest fire experience after what Mr. Mabie told us about those friends of his who were nearly burned to death seven years ago; and that was a prairie fire, too," observed Will, continuing to cast anxious glances around.
"Amen to that," remarked Bluff.
"Why, you must think I'm just wild to try my legs, with a healthy blaze jumping after me; but I'm not, all the same. Come along, Lazy-bones! We're going to have the delightful pleasure of covering those ten miles back again," and Jerry pulled Will to his feet.
"Ten miles!" groaned the other dismally, making a pretense of hobbling, as if his muscles had given out. "How in the world can I ever do it?"
"Well, sing out when you want to stop. We'll hang you up in a tree, safe and sound, just as I did that wolf I got; and later on one of the boys can come for you with a horse," was Jerry's cheerful remark.
"Oh, I'd hate to put you to any additional trouble, so I'll try my best to limp along," replied Will, who, of course, was only shamming, in that he was not half so tired as he tried to make out.
So they turned their faces toward the home camp, and started trudging along, now and then
calling to one another as something caught their fancy.
Will had had little opportunity to make use of his picture-taking machine this trip. His stock of films was beginning to run low, and only special subjects must claim his attention from now on. Besides, he had several views of the great woods, and the light was so poor under the trees that it required a time exposure to bring out the details.
"I think it's a mean shame none of you fellows think enough of me to get up some sort of excitement, in order to let me snap you off," he was saying as he tramped along.
"Tell me about that, will you! The chap really thinks that it's our duty to do all sorts of remarkable stunts, in order that he may have the pleasure of snapping us off in ridiculous positions!"
"Hear! hear! That was the finest speech I ever knew Jerry to put up. As a rule, he leaves the heavy talk to me, and is satisfied to just grunt out his ideas. But look here, Frank, I believe you were right," said Bluff, stopping to elevate his nose in a significant fashion.
"Oh! dear me! Do you smell smoke, too?" demanded Will.
"Why, so do I, now that you mention it. And
say! just cast your eyes back of us, fellows! Don't it seem as though there was more or less smoke in the woods over yonder?" asked Jerry.
The four boys now showed sudden animation.
"Hark to the wind, too! It's beginning to make a sound up there in the tree-tops. Which way is it coming, Frank?" asked Will.
Frank's face began to assume a serious look. The wind was fairly growing stronger with every passing minute. If the woods should be afire, this would whip the flames furiously, and send them speeding along at a dangerous pace.
"It begins to look bad for us, boys," he remarked.
"What! Do you really mean it, or are you just trying to play a joke?"
"You know me better than that, Will. There is certainly a brush fire back there. Some camper has left his fire, and the rising wind has carried it into the dead leaves," said Frank soberly, surveying his surroundings.
"Could we push forward and put it out before it does any damage?" asked Bluff.
"I'm afraid it's too late for that now. See there! The smoke is getting thicker and thicker all the time. Boys, we might as well look the matter straight in the face."
"
What do you mean, Frank?" asked Will in a trembling voice.
"We must cut and run for it, that's all, for the fire is coming swiftly!"