“Well, the marks aren’t going to help as much as I expected,” Ned remarked. “We’ll just have to go it blind again.”
And they did, riding here and there, calling and occasionally firing their revolvers. But as the day passed, and they received no answer, they became discouraged.
“Shall we go back to camp?” asked Bob, as night was beginning to manifest itself.
“Where else would we go?” asked Jerry.
“Well, I thought maybe we would go to the ranch. There isn’t much grub left——”
“Do you put eating ahead of the professor?” cried Ned.
“No, of course not. But I meant we could go back to the ranch, stock up and come back here prepared to make a long stay. Of course, I want to find the professor as much as you!”
“That’s all right,” returned the mollified Ned. “But we’ve got grub enough for a while yet, and he may come back as queerly as he went away.”
But Professor Snodgrass did not do so. The boys passed an uneasy night, listening for any sounds that might indicate the return of their friend, but his place in the tent was vacant when morning came.
Then they held a sort of council and decided it would be best to go back to the ranch and tell what had happened. They could come back the next day, with some of the cowboys and make a more thorough search.