“Perhaps Andy had a tumble from his wheel,” suggested Dale. “It might have broken down, you know.”
“Let us walk toward town and find out,” answered Pepper.
To this the others readily consented, and all set off in the direction of Cedarville. They had to go around a long curve, and then came to a spot where the roadway was lined upon either side with thick brushwood and trees.
“Here he is!” called out Jack, and ran forward. “At least, here is his wheel.”
He was right about the bicycle. It rested by the roadside, close to the fallen limb of a tree.
“He certainly took a tumble!” cried Stuffer. “But where is he?”
This question was answered by a groan that made all of the cadets start. They turned, peered into the bushes, and there beheld poor Andy stretched out on some grass. The blood was flowing from a wound in his forehead and from a cut on his hand.
“Andy!” cried the young major. “Are you hurt much?”
“I—I don’t know,” was the gasped-out reply.
“Didn’t you see the tree limb?” asked Pepper, as he got out his handkerchief to wipe away some of the blood on his chum’s face, so he might see the extent of the injury. Fortunately the cut was not deep, and it was easily bound up.