In the little bedroom which opened out of the office, they threw themselves on the cots without removing any of their clothes, and pulled a heavy blanket over them. Bob was not long in finding out that he was more tired than he had thought, and in a very short time he was sound asleep.
It was light when Bob awoke. He glanced over toward the other cot and seeing that it was empty he sprang to his feet and rushed out into the office.
A fire was roaring in the stove before which sat Jacques and Tom Bean.
“Sure and it’s meself thot would like ter know what yer mane by going off in the night without lettin’ me know about it,” he demanded in a stern voice; but the twinkle, which he was unable to keep out of his eyes, told Bob that Jacques had already explained things to him, and that he was not angry.
“When do we start?” he asked.
“Jest as soon as we get something forninst our belts,” Tom replied. “Come on wid yez. Breakfast is ready and we’ll be on the way in no time.”
They made short work of the meal and in less than twenty minutes they were out back of the bunk house searching for the trail. It was hard to pick up, as about three inches of snow had fallen during the early morning hours, but soon Bob’s sharp eyes spied a broken end of a branch and a few feet away another.
“Come on,” he shouted. “They headed north.”
Traces of the trail were few and far between, and they were often obliged to stop and hunt for some time before they could pick up the trail again, and any but skilled woodsmen would have been utterly at sea. But about ten o’clock, after they had covered about twelve miles, they lost the trail and, search as they would, they were unable to find it.
“It’s only about three miles from here to Kernertok’s cabin,” Bob said after they had been searching for all of a quarter of an hour. “What’s the matter with going there and getting him and Sicum? I’ll bet he can pick up the trail.”