“Nothing doing at all. Just stay here where you’re well off. We’ve got our hands full to guard this camp. I’m wondering what keeps the boys so long, that’s all,” he said.
But the minutes lengthened into hours and still there were no signs of the explorers. Bluff and Will started to get supper ready. Neither of them felt very gay, for a shadow seemed to be resting upon the camp.
The sun had set behind the mountains in the west, and with the gathering of the dusk their fears increased.
“Something dreadful must have happened to them,” said Will, looking alarmed.
Bluff tried to laugh it off, saying:
“Humbug! What could happen to those two chaps? They’re up in all that pertains to the forest, and they’ve got a gun along, too. It’s you and I that may well be called the babes in the woods. We know precious little between us; but you just bet nobody can give us points on how to cook rice.”
But Will was too much worried to even show signs of anger or reproach.
“What if they don’t come at all? What if both fellows disappear mysteriously as if they were swallowed up in the earth? We’ll feel pretty tough telling their parents the sad news. I kind of wish now we hadn’t come,” he remarked dolefully.
“Just let up on that tune, will you? Think of the pictures you have already secured, and the others coming. Why, the boys might have been delayed by a dozen things. Make up your mind they’re all right and will pop in on us at any minute.”
But despite Bluff’s attempt to cheer his mate up, Will kept watching the bushes in the light of the rousing fire they kept going, as if hoping against hope that his prediction of evil might not be fulfilled.