“He was close to me when we started the race,” answered Phil. “But I soon got ahead of him and turned to one side of some big rocks while he went to the other side.”
“And didn’t you see him after that?”
“No. But I heard him call to some of the others.”
“I think he was close behind me during the first half of the race,” broke in Roger. “But after that I drew away from him.”
“We’ll go back to where we started from and keep calling his name,” said our hero. “He’ll be bound to hear us if he is anywhere around.”
“Perhaps he went down into one of those openings between some of the rocks and was knocked unconscious,” suggested Ben. “Such a thing could easily happen.”
“Oh, I hope he isn’t seriously hurt!” cried the senator’s son.
Very soberly the four youths climbed back to the summit of the mountain, and then began to retrace their steps toward the other side. They kept calling Shadow’s name continually, but no answer came back.
“Over yonder is the worst opening I had to jump over,” remarked Roger, when they were near the center of the summit.
“Let us look at it, right away,” returned our hero quickly.