The Lakewood boys on the Lazy S

by L. P. Wyman

Although his ankle still hurt when he bore his weight on it he was glad to note that the pain was considerable less than it had been the night before.

"Now if I can only find Satan," he thought as he looked about trying to determine which way to go. "Wonder if he's as hungry as I am."

Ordinarily the position of the sum would have told him which way to go but, inasmuch as he was not at all certain of the direction in which he had fled during the darkness, he could not be sure. So he determined that he would again climb the tree in the hopes that the view from the top would set him straight. The tree was a very tall one overtopping any other near by and, when he had reached the limb on which he had rested before, he had a good view over a considerable distance. But it all looked so much alike that he could pick out no distinguishing mark which was at all helpful to him.

"I'm pretty sure that the path is over that way," he said aloud, pointing toward the top of the ridge. "I must have crossed it in the darkness without knowing it."

Feeling reasonably certain that he was right he quickly descended and set off. He had not gone very far when he came to a small brook running at right angles to the way he was going. The water was clear and cold and he was very thirsty but, although he welcomed the stream for the sake of the water, it caused him much uneasiness as he could not remember having crossed it the night before.

"I guess I'm lost all right," he thought as he straightened up after drinking his fill. However he was convinced that he was moving in the right direction in a general sense at least, in that the top of the ridge lay that way. "Perhaps this brook takes a sharp turn not far away and that may be the reason I didn't cross it."

And a few minutes later he was sure that he was right for he came to a small path leading through the woods.

"I'm all right now," he thought turning to the right and, with a light heart, he pushed on as rapidly as the injured ankle would permit.

For an hour he hurried along. The fact that the path seemed much less rough than it had been yesterday caused him much uneasiness, but he trusted that it was due to his imagination but, when a second hour had nearly passed and he had not struck the main trail, he was obliged to acknowledge to himself that it was not the path he had taken before.

"Guess there's only one thing to do and that's to get up to the top of the ridge and go down the other side. I'm bound to come somewhere. Looking for Satan now would be like hunting for a needle in a hay stack," he thought as he came to a stop. "I ought to have known that this wasn't the right path."