The next moment the dog peered out from under the stacked up boughs, seeming to say to his friends that he had found some one there.
“I guess he has, all right,” Clay said, when Alex expressed this idea. “He has found a human being, for there are empty tins about, as if some one had eaten here. Come out, Captain Joe!”
But Captain Joe did not obey. Instead, he retreated under the boughs and growled a further invitation for them to come into his parlor!
Clay pushed his light farther and opened the overhanging mass of foliage. What he saw inside was a slender figure lying on a rough bed of leaves and grass. At the side of the figure were several tins of food which had not been opened. Captain Joe was bending over the face, which lay in the shadow, caressing it with his soft tongue.
Clay pushed the dog away and lowered his light. Then the cry he uttered caused Case and Alex to rush through the sheltering boughs and stand by his side. In a moment all were on their knees at the side of the figure, now lying with closed eyes.
“It is Gran!” Clay shouted. “It is Gran come back to us!”
“He’s dead, I guess!” was Alex’s sad comment. Clay bent forward and took the boy’s hand into his own.
“No,” he said, “he is still alive. Now, how the Old Harry did he ever get here? And what is the matter with him?”
Case pointed silently to one leg, lying off the rough bed. There were rude splints tied to it with strips of cloth torn from the boy’s trousers. The garment had been cut from the leg, and it could be seen what the splints meant.
“He’s fallen and broken his leg!” Case exclaimed. “Poor chap!”