He waited until he knew that the bear was almost near enough for him to touch with his hand and was about to pull the trigger and trust to luck when something hit him a blow on the side of the head and he felt himself falling through what seemed miles of space then came oblivion.
Day was just breaking when Jack awoke. It had been long after he wrapped himself in his blanket before sleep came. He knew Bob’s penchant for putting the best foot forward and he feared that he was much worse off than he had let on. He sprang to his feet as soon as he could throw off his blanket and the first thought which entered his mind was the radio. Eagerly he began to call but there was no response. Hastily but thoroughly he looked the apparatus over to be sure that it was in order and when he could find nothing amiss he tried again.
But as before he could get no reply.
“Mebby he’s asleep,” he thought, and then his heart almost stopped beating as the possibility of his brother being dead entered his mind.
As quickly as possible, not stopping to eat, he rolled his pack and throwing both it and Bob’s over his shoulder, he started at almost a run.
For a time he had little trouble in being certain that he was on the right track as, in the thinly wooded section, it was easy to locate the boundary stones and he remembered that Bob had told him that he was not far from the border line. Several times during the first two hours he stopped long enough to try the radio but each time he met with disappointment. And each time also he became more frightened. Surely Bob must be awake by this time and why did he not answer? The boy refused to permit an answer to enter his mind. Bob could not be dead. He would not have it so.
As he entered the more thickly wooded district he was forced to go slower. Several times he had to hunt for what seemed an almost endless time before he could locate the marking stone and he dared not proceed until he had found it for fear of missing Bob altogether.
“He can’t be a great way off now,” he thought as he glanced at his watch and saw that it was nearly ten o’clock.
He had just spent nearly a half hour hunting before he located the last stone and he was almost sure that he had come nearly if not quite twenty miles. For the hundredth time he gave vent to the call of the whip-poor-will giving it the accent which he knew Bob would recognize.
“Why don’t he answer?” he moaned.