Pathfinder; or, The Missing Tenderfoot

by Captain Alan Douglas

For a little while he found it very hard work, indeed, but after reaching the limits of the search maintained by Matty and those with him, the task became considerably easier.

And mindful of his position as acting scout master to the troop during the temporary absence of Mr. Garrabrant, Elmer made it a point to explain more or less as he went along.

"See, here is where one of the men slipped on this rock, and left a new scratch. And this shows where another broke a twig off this branch in passing. You can see it has been freshly done, because the green leaves do not show much sign of wilting."

In this fashion, then, he not only intensely interested his followers, but continued to make progress all the while.

Most of the boys were eager to get points on such an engaging subject as trail finding. These hung upon his every word, examined the marks to which Elmer drew their attention, commented upon the same among themselves, and several even went so far as to take out memorandum books in which they hastily scribbled such notes as would enable them to remember.

All the while they were climbing higher, and by degrees found themselves in a wilder section than any of them had dreamed existed so near their home town of Hickory Ridge.

"Looks like there might be a few caves around such a place as this," remarked Red, as he wiped his face with the red bandana handkerchief which he had hung cowboy fashion around his neck, with the knot at the back.

"Oh, that's a dead-sure thing," replied Ty, who happened to be close at his elbow at the time. "Fact is, I've seen several myself. Anyhow, they were dark, ugly looking holes between big rocks, and if this was a game country I'd say they might be bear dens or the homes of wolves."

All this sort of talk tended to key the anticipations of the boys up to a point where they were expecting almost anything to happen.

Elmer paid no attention to side issues. There might be a dozen likely looking hiding places along the route, but they did not interest him an iota so long as that faintly marked trail continued.