I made no answer, and he gazed carefully about on all sides.
“This looks like the spot,” muttered Avery. “Yet if he ain’t here I must have made a mistake, for he couldn’t have got away.”
He continued to hunt around until he reached the base of the rocks where I had been captured.
“No, this is the right place,” he went on. “Here is the very spot we had the tussle.”
“Reuben Stone!” he called out. “If you don’t want to starve to death in these woods you had better answer.”
He listened a moment and then repeated his cry.
I could not help but wonder what had brought him back, but I was not kept long in suspense.
“That boy must know what has become of the boat,” he went on to himself. “He seems to be the only one around.”
He paused for a moment more and looked up into the trees. During this time, I fairly held my breath so fearful was I of discovery.
At length he passed on, satisfied, I think, that he had made some mistake. I followed, taking good care on this occasion that I should keep a respectable distance in the rear and not make any noise.