The bony mountaineer shook his head.
“They might as well look for a needle in a load of hay,” he said.
Alex now bent over and began talking gravely to the bulldog.
“Captain Joe,” he said, “why didn’t you follow me sooner? I might have been eaten alive at that landing. Next time, you come quicker.”
Captain Joe pointed his blood-stained nose in the direction of the river and whined softly.
“What’s that?” asked Alex.
The dog drew away from the boy and ran a few steps to the north and looked back.
“Look here!” Alex said, speaking excitedly to Case and the mountaineer, “the bulldog says there’s some of our friends over in the direction of the river.”
“I didn’t hear him talking,” laughed the mountaineer.
“That’s because you don’t know dog talk. Captain Joe has a language of his own,” laughed Case. “Great dog, that!”