“Then the signboard was wrong!” declared Jack.
“That’s funny,” Sam spoke, musingly. “Signboards don’t change themselves that way. There’s something wrong here.”
“Well, never mind that,” went on Bert. “Have you seen anything of Tom Fairfield?”
“Tom Fairfield! Why, I thought he was with you!” exclaimed Sam, quickly looking around.
“He was, but we separated to find the road,” explained George, “and now we can’t locate Tom.”
“Well, this won’t do,” Sam spoke, and his voice was serious. “We will have to hunt for him right away. He hasn’t had anything to eat, you say?”
“None of us have,” said Jack. “That’s why we were so glad to find some sort of road.”
“Well, I’ve got my pung back there a piece,” said the guide. “I have some grub in it that I was taking over to your Camp No. 2. I can give you a snack from that, and then we’ll do some searching for the boy. I like Tom Fairfield!”
“So do I!” exclaimed Jack, and the others nodded emphatic agreements, with a chorus of: