THE SEARCH FOR THE MISSING BOY
"Tom isn't here!"
It was Dick who uttered the words, as of a sudden he wheeled around on the dark trail and tried to penetrate the blackness of night behind them.
"Isn't here?" demanded Jack Wumble, while Sam set up a cry of dismay.
"No. Tom! Tom!"
Sam joined in the cry, and so did the old miner, but as we already know, it was useless.
"This is the wust yet!" growled Jack Wumble. "I told ye all to keep close to me."
"Perhaps he fell asleep— I know he was dead tired," answered Dick, hitting the plain truth.
"We'll have to go back for him," said Sam, and turned without delay, for going ahead without Tom was all out of the question.
"Yes, we'll go back," rejoined the old miner. "But go slow, or you may make matters wuss. I kin follow a clear trail, even of three hosses, but I can't follow a trail mixed up backward an' forward."