Filling his pockets with cartridges, and wrapping in a paper a small stock of provisions, he set off, only to come back a moment later and write on a piece torn from a paste board box:
"I have had to go down the lake. Wait here for me."
This he fastened to a tree where Jim would be most likely to see it immediately on his arrival, and then he started for the second time.
When Jet set out, the boat containing the men was a long distance in advance heading directly toward the lower end of the lake where were a number of small islands.
At first it had seemed a simple thing to follow a craft by keeping close to the edge of the water; but in a short time he learned the difference to his cost.
CHAPTER XXIV
A STERN CHASE
For a certain distance Jet could walk through the fringe of bushes growing at the water's edge, enabled to see the boat and its occupants distinctly, and then a bit of marsh or small stream would force him to a detour of a mile or more.
"At this rate, I'm making about three times the distance they have to," he said, as he staggered across a shallow water-course so laden with the provisions, and the gun that he could not hold the branches back from his face, and thus received many a severe blow. "Most likely the next time I get to the edge of the lake they will be behind one of those islands, and then what's to be done?"