“Am I?” Jack clasped his arm about the shrinking form of the unfortunate lad. “Well, I guess not! I’d like to have that guardian of yours here, for about five minutes!”
“Petrified pancakes! So would I!” exclaimed Nat. “I’d send him over where that bad-smelling spring is to spend the night. But, Bill, you haven’t told us how you got here.”
“I hardly know myself,” was the answer. “I did run away, just as Mr. Gabel told you, Jack. I couldn’t stand his mean ways any longer. He refused to let me go camping with you, and said I would have to go to work, while school was closed for repairs, to make up the money he said I stole. I decided I would come out West and try to find my uncle. He’s out here somewhere, but where I haven’t been able to learn. I had a few dollars saved up, that I had earned, and I came as far as they would bring me. Then I worked my way on from Chicago by jumping freights and by doing odd jobs whenever I got the chance. I heard, in a roundabout way, that my uncle was either in the southern part of Montana, or the northern part of Wyoming, and so I came on. I’ve been traveling around now for two weeks, trying to find him, and I’ve been living like a tramp, but I can’t seem to locate him. I met some men who said they knew him, but they acted so mysterious that I could get no information from them. They didn’t seem to want to tell me where he was. So I decided to keep on until I found him. I’ve been tramping all day, and when I heard you talking I thought maybe you were a party of hunters who would help me.”
“And so we will,” burst out Jack. “Come along to camp with us, Bill, and we’ll fix you up. It’s a shame, the way your guardian treats you. And your uncle can’t be much better.”
“Oh, he used to be kind to me,” said the unfortunate lad, “but I don’t believe he knows how things have gone with me. If I could find him I think he would take care of me.”
“Well, maybe we can help find him for you,” said Nat.
Little time was lost in getting back to the temporary camp, and there Will, who was weak and faint from hunger, was given a light meal. Then the whole party went on to the main camp, Will riding behind Jack, for the latter’s horse would carry double.
“My, but you certainly are doing this up in style,” remarked the ragged lad as he saw the fine tents and noted how comfortably Jack and his chums lived, in spite of the fact that they were far from civilization. His arrival created quite a sensation.
“Oh, when Jack Ranger does a thing, it’s done good and proper,” said Bony. “It’s the first outing out of the gun club, and he wants to make a record, I guess.”
“I want you all to have a good time, that’s all I want,” was Jack’s reply.