Lost in the forest! Oliver and Gus looked at each other with blanched faces. Here indeed was a sorry situation. What was to be done?
On every side could be seen nothing but the dense undergrowth and tall trees. They might be only a hundred feet from the railroad, or they might be a mile away.
“We were very foolish not to note the path,” said Oliver. “Have you any idea which way we ought to turn?”
“I have not, excepting that we might trace the way back to that pool,” answered Gus. “And I don’t want to do that if I can help it,” he added with a shudder. “I’d rather tramp five miles than face those snakes again.”
“So would I. But we must try some way. Here, let us see if we cannot get our bearings by the sun. Now, I think this is the right direction,” went on Oliver, after a careful survey of the light overhead.
“And I think it is this way,” affirmed Gus, pointing out a course directly at right angles with the other. “Come, let us try that opening beyond.”
Gus insisted that he was right, and somewhat against his will, Oliver followed his chum. They crossed the clearing, and then plunged into another mass of bushes and vines, the stout lad leading.
“Hold up!” he shouted suddenly. “Don’t come any farther, or you’ll get into a regular bog-hole!” And he turned and hastily scrambled back to where Oliver stood.
“It’s lucky I stopped where I did,” he went on; “if we hadn’t we would have got into a pool worse than the other one was. My! what a beastly place this is!”
More dismayed than ever, they made their way back to the clearing. Something must be done, but what?