Dick nodded his head.
"I don't know about that," said George Le Dell. "I think if he had his choice, he would rather be where he is now than in the prison at Shreveport, if he had to go through what he did when he made his escape. Frank has been in some tight places, but somehow he has always managed to squeeze through without much trouble."
"And he never was hurt that I remember, except when he burned that house in which Colonel Harrison made his headquarters," said Archie.
"When you burned it, you mean," said George. "You did that, and if you had been a line instead of a staff officer, you would have got another stripe around your arm for it, too. I told the Colonel all about it after you left our house."
"Why did you do that?" exclaimed Archie, hastily. "Now I shall never dare to meet him again."
"Ha! ha!" laughed George. "Why, he is one of your warmest friends. I told him because I wanted him to know that the boy who killed that bear and beat Somers in a fair race through the woods, had something in him. The Colonel scolded me for not telling him before. He said if he had known it while you were in our neighborhood, you wouldn't have got away from his house for one good long month at least. He would have kept you if he'd had to put a guard over you."
"Well, I shouldn't have enjoyed the visit."
"You couldn't have helped yourself, if plenty of hunting, riding and good company are aids to enjoyment."
From this subject the boys gradually got back to the one that occupied the most of their minds and thoughts, and that was Frank's sudden disappearance. They asked the trapper a multitude of questions, but learned nothing new, for he had already told his story in detail. While they were talking Uncle Dick returned, and the tug being alongside and the pilot aboard, the lines were cast off and the Stranger swung slowly around until her bow pointed toward the headlands at the entrance to the bay. In the bustle and hurry that followed the boys found time to turn an eye toward the trappers now and then, but they saw no signs of regret or alarm on their faces; and when the lines that held the tug were let go, and the steamer with a farewell shriek of her whistle turned back toward the city, and the schooner unfolded her white wings one after the other, and the Golden Gate was passed, and the broad expanse of the Pacific was fairly spread out before them, there were still no signs of backing out. But it was too late now. The die was cast, and Dick and old Bob were bound for the "under side of the earth!"