“Well, did you good people think I had deserted you?” he cried out. “I am nearly famished. Is there anything left from dinner?”
“Yes, of course there is. I will get you something. First I must tell you. Mr. Wingate has been missing since some time this afternoon. We don’t know what to make of it unless he has fallen asleep somewhere,” said Grace.
“What! Tell me about it.”
Nora told the guide the story, explaining that Hippy had taken up his station on the rock to guard the camp, and that that was the last they saw of him.
Ham White was disturbed, but he did not show it. Instead he laughed.
“No doubt, as Mrs. Gray has suggested, he has gone to sleep. Where is Mr. Brown?”
“He is asleep in his tent, as usual,” spoke up Emma. “Oh, Hamilton, won’t you please find Hippy—now?”
“I will do my best. Give me a snack and I’ll go out now. I followed the other trail for something like five miles. There were four men in the party, only one of whom came near the camp. The trail finally bumped into the side of a mountain and I lost it. It was so dark I could not follow it farther. Thank you!” he added, as Emma handed him some bacon. “I will go right out.”
They followed him around the rock and watched with keen interest as Ham White searched for and found the trail of the missing Hippy, which he followed, with the aid of his pocket lamp, for some distance.
“He was strolling,” announced the guide. “You can see here where he sat down to rest, then went on. Please return to camp. Unless he wandered off and lost his way, I shall probably soon find him.”