"And we don't want to walk two or three miles out of our way," put in Whopper. "I'm getting mighty tired—-not having had a good rest last night."
"We are having one adventure on top of the other," said the doctor's son with a grim smile. "Well, is it go forward or stay here?"
Nobody wanted to stand still, and so they descended to the ground and moved off in the new direction settled upon. All were fagged out, so progress was slow. They encountered some squirrels and Snap brought down two and stowed them away with his partridge.
"There's a cat!" cried Shep suddenly, and ran forward. Then of a sudden he stopped and smiled, while Whopper and Snap roared.
"Better give that cat a wide berth," suggested Snap, "unless you want to put a whole perfumery shop to shame." And they did give the animal a wide berth, for it was a skunk, and one "ready for business," as Snap afterward expressed it.
By nightfall they were still deep in the woods. All were now exhausted, and coming to a fallen tree Snap dropped to rest and so did his chums.
"Boys, we have missed it," said the doctor's son seriously. "I must confess I haven't the least idea where our camp is!"
"And that means we'll have to stay out in these woods all night," returned Whopper.
"More than likely."