CHAPTER VII.
REX ENCOUNTERS WILD CATS.
Bob was the first to get back to the camp. He had, in the three hours, covered nearly ten miles, he thought. He had called Rex’s name till he was hoarse, but only the echo of the forest had answered him.
“Hope one of the others has had better luck,” he thought as he reluctantly turned back.
It was nearly eleven o’clock when he got back, and he was somewhat surprised to find that neither Jack or Kernertok had returned.
Jack, however, was only a few minutes later and Kernertok, with Sicum following close to his heels, came just before half past eleven. All reported the same. No trace of Rex had been found.
“This is a serious matter,” Bob declared. “It isn’t as if he were used to the woods. Any one of us could live almost indefinitely in the woods, but it’s altogether different with a fellow who doesn’t know the ropes, so to speak.”
“Heap bad,” Kernertok shook his head.
“If only Sicum was all right, we’d have found him long before this,” Jack declared.
“No doubt about that,” Bob agreed. “But that doesn’t help just now. The big question is what are we going to do next?”
“Did he have a revolver with him?” Jack asked.