Much discouraged, the young engineers returned to the camp and made a report to their superiors. Captain Obray shook his head seriously.
“It certainly looks bad,” he mused. “I’ll have to list the lieutenant as missing.”
The others did not feel much like going to work, but there were a number of things that had to be done. The news soon spread throughout the entire engineering camp, and Frank Andrews and a number of others who had known Dave intimately were much affected.
“He wouldn’t go away like this on his own account,” said Andrews. “Something undoubtedly happened to him.”
“And that something couldn’t have been anything good,” returned Roger.
As soon as the young engineers were through with their work for the afternoon they started on another hunt for Dave, this time being accompanied by Frank Andrews and several of the older engineers. Every foot of the woods in that vicinity was gone over, including a portion of the hill which Dave had ascended.
“Here are some footprints,” said Frank Andrews presently, as he pointed to some marks in the soft soil near where Dave had been thrown down.
They examined this locality with great care, and presently Phil picked up a uniform button.
“That shows one of our men was up here,” declared the shipowner’s son. “It’s an American button.”
“It may be one of Dave’s,” answered Frank Andrews, after looking the button over.