So it was agreed, and a minute later they separated. Shep took to rather a rough path and more than once felt that he would have to turn back and give up.
"But I am not going back till I hit something," he told himself, and just then a distant shot reached his ears. "Snap must have spotted something. I must do as well."
A hundred feet further on he came to an old and wide-spreading tree. On the branches he discovered two squirrels of good size. Without delay he blazed away, and when the smoke drifted away saw that both of the creatures were stone dead. They had not dropped to the ground, but were caught in two crotches of the tree, at a spot well over his head.
"I'll have to climb up to get them," he murmured, and threw down his gun and his game bag. A limb was handy and he swung himself up into the tree and worked his way toward the trunk, where the squirrels lay.
The tree was old and partly split in half and the center of the trunk was hollow. Just as he reached out to take hold of one of the squirrels, his foot slipped and he began to slide down into the hollow. He clutched at the smooth wood, but could not stay his progress, and like a flash he disappeared from the sunlight into almost utter darkness!
Unfortunately for the young hunter, the tree was hollow to its very roots, and he went to the bottom, reaching it with a jolt that made his teeth crack together. His hands were above him and he was wedged in so tightly that he could not bring them down.
"Well, of all things!" he murmured, when he could catch his breath.
"I am a prisoner now and no mistake!"
He looked up, but a slight twist of the tree cut off the sunlight from overhead, although he could see dimly after his eyes became somewhat accustomed to the semi-gloom.
Shep waited to get back his breath, and then started to feel around for something by which he might raise himself. Not a projection of any sort was at hand.
"How in the world am I to get out of this?" was the question which he asked himself.