Forgotten were all the other searchers in the Adirondack woods; let them rush this way and that in their hunt without a method; but the scouts were on the right track, and if fortune were kind, they meant to follow it to success.
Chapter X
A Wild Grapevine Rope
Their progress was of necessity tedious, but what did that matter, so long as it was sure? A tender little fellow like Caleb could not cover a very great distance before giving out, when he would be forced to drop to the ground, perhaps yielding to a desire to go to sleep.
Tubby and Andy were discussing this very thing, as they came along after the two leaders. Occasionally Ralph joined in the conversation.
“How far do you think a little chap like that could cover from morning up to now?” Tubby asked.
“Oh! not over a couple of miles, I should say, but at the most twice that far,” Andy replied, after giving the matter a little thought. “Even at that he’d be apt to repeat, that is, wander around in a circle, so at the end of the day he mightn’t be over a full mile from where he started.”
“But they said the river was only a quarter of a mile off,” suggested Tubby, darkly.
“Get that notion out of your head to begin with, please,” interrupted Ralph. “I’m glad to tell you that we’ve been going in a course that would never fetch out at the river; fact is, it lies almost directly the other way.”
“Oh! I’m glad of that, Ralph, and thank you for telling us about it!” ejaculated Tubby, with a heavy sigh of relief. “Because right along I’ve been picturing little Caleb falling in, and no one near to hear his cries for help. Then, if he isn’t drowned, we’re just bound to find him.”
The same confidence seemed to possess Andy Bowles after hearing Ralph say there was no danger of running across the swift river in this direction. Meanwhile, those in the van were making steady progress. Their little difficulties did not seem to daunt them in the least, for after a brief pause now and then they would always proceed with the same assurance, as though positive of their movements.