“He’s wandered a long distance away, that’s sure,” the cubmaster said. “Perhaps to the ravine. Our voices might not carry to him there.”
“But why would Red go that far?” Brad asked himself aloud. “I can’t understand it. He only intended to play a little joke on the Cubs.”
Mr. Hatfield, in advance of the others, halted so abruptly that Brad bumped into him.
“Hello, here’s something!” the cubmaster exclaimed.
He stooped to pick up a paper sack lying in plain view on a log.
“That’s the one Red had!” Brad cried, instantly recognizing it.
Inside the sack, Mr. Hatfield found a neatly folded bearskin rug.
“Red intended to play a joke on the Cubs all right,” he commented. “But something caused him to change his mind.”
“For some reason he decided to go deeper into the woods,” Mr. Holloway added thoughtfully. “Evidently, he wanted to travel fast, so he pitched this bulky sack. He left it on the log, where he could find it easily on his way back.”
More than ever mystified by the boy’s strange disappearance, the four now hastened on. Soon however, Mr. Hatfield reported that he no longer could find any shoeprints on the trail.