“An accident!” cried Mrs. Martin.
“Don’t be worried! It was just that one of the saws broke. No one was hurt, and Teddy wasn’t even around when it happened. But I needed Jake and Sam to help the other men, and I was going to send one of the men for them, over where they were building a chute, when Teddy offered to go. He said he knew the way.”
“Yes, I suppose he does,” agreed Mrs. Martin. “Didn’t he go?”
“I thought he had until Jake and Sam came back just now and said they hadn’t seen him,” went on the foreman. “I thought maybe you saw him starting off and called him back.”
“No, I didn’t,” said Mrs. Martin. “I am afraid something may have happened to him,” she added.
“The only thing that could happen would be that he might get on the wrong trail and wander off a little bit,” said Tod. “I’ll get the gang out and we’ll soon find him.”
A few minutes later Mr. Martin arrived, and though he was worried when told about the absence of Teddy, he believed that the missing Curlytop lad would shortly be found.
“But it will soon be night!” his wife remarked.
“We’ll find him before then,” he said.
A searching party was quickly organized, two of them, in fact, one to go one way and the second another way. And as the shadows began to get longer, showing that darkness was on its way, the lumbermen, led by Mr. Martin, started off into the forest.