“Don’t answer, Osgood—for the love of goodness, don’t answer!”
Ned was looking down into the distraught, fear-stricken face of Charley Shultz!
[CHAPTER XXIV—SHULTZ SEES A LIGHT.]
Amazed beyond expression, Osgood continued to gaze downward at the haggard, woe-begone face of Shultz. Presently, recovering a bit, he asked:
“What in the world are you doing here, Charley?”
“Hush! Keep still!” pleaded the boy beneath the bushes. “He’ll hear you! There he is, calling again! Don’t answer! Don’t answer!”
“Why, it’s only Nelson,” said Ned, squatting beside the bushes. “We were chasing you. We thought you might be Hooker.”
“Hooker—oh!”
There was inexpressible terror and anguish in those two words, which seemed almost to choke the boy who uttered them.
Nelson was approaching, continuing to call Osgood’s name.