CHAPTER XIX.
BLACK CLOUD'S VISIT.
It was mid-afternoon of the day following the start of Mr. Mayberry and Rob, riding double, from the shanty in the lonely basin. Gathered in the big living room of the ranch house of the Harkness range was a cheerless little group, consisting of the Boy Scouts of the Ranger Patrol, Mr. Harkness and several cow-punchers, including Blinky. They had returned, disheartened and apprehensive, a few hours before, from a painstaking search of the mountains for a trace of Rob. But they had found absolutely none, and as Mr. Harkness had just said, felt as if they had indeed reached "the end of the rope."
"You don't think, then, there is a chance of our finding him?"
It was Merritt who spoke.
"I'm afraid, much as I dislike to say it, my boy, that we have used up every possible resource at our command," rejoined the rancher.
"Then what are we to do? We can't give up the search like this. He may be wandering about in the mountains now."
"With nothing to eat," put in Tubby tragically.
"I only wish you could suggest something," said Mr. Harkness in a weary tone, that made Merritt ashamed of his querulous speech.