“I don’t believe he is within reach of my signals; it will be the fortune of Dick to bring him out from cover.”
A possibility occurred to the young aviator. If Bunk had heard his call he would set out on a stealthy search for Harvey. He would steal like a red Indian through the undergrowth, around the rocks and among the tree trunks in the effort to gain a peep at the one who had followed him to his lonely retreat. Harvey stood motionless, listening and peering around for some minutes, and then, hearing nothing more than he had heard from the first, he started on a little search of his own.
Feeling the necessity of the utmost caution, he inched around to the rear of the ledge, halting at every step and peering into the labyrinth of undergrowth and tree trunks, many of which grew close to one another as if crowded for room. When he reached the spot he had in mind, a thrill ran through him, for he assuredly heard something moving apparently with the same care he was himself using. He stood motionless and listened.
The noise was so faint that for a time he could not tell the direction whence it came. He was in the midst of a dense growth of bushes, woven through in many places by matted vines which at times blocked his way.
“Bunk was always good at this business,” he reflected; “I remember he used to trace me and Dick and dodge us when we were hunting for him. I don’t believe he has detected me, but may suspect I am looking for him. Sh! there it is again.”
This time he identified the point from which the indistinct rustling issued. It was to the left and perhaps a hundred feet away. The intervening growth made his view uncertain, but while gazing he saw some bushes agitated, as they might have been by a person stealing through them. He noticed that the very gentle breeze which was blowing came from the spot toward him, whereat he was glad, for he fancied his own movements were not so likely to be noticed by Bunk, provided it was really he who was so near.
Fearful of being discovered before he could get nigh enough to the colored youth to prevent his running off, Harvey took several guarded steps, which placed him behind the trunk of a large oak, and peered out.
The rustling ceased; then he heard it again and saw the bushes stirred. He thought this was a most peculiar way of acting on the part of his friend. After waiting until it had lasted several minutes without any change, he grew impatient. He stepped from behind the oak and advanced, keenly watching the bushes in front.
Suddenly an immense pair of antlers loomed to view amid the dense shrubbery and Harvey observed the head of a huge buck which was browsing upon a species of berry that grew on the upper part of a group of bushes. The direction of the wind prevented the animal from scenting the nearness of an enemy, but he had discovered something that roused his suspicion. He stopped chewing and holding his head high stared around in quest of the cause.
Harvey did not think of screening himself from sight of the buck, and immediately recalled the accounts Dick had written home of the huge creature for whose antlers he yearned.