The next tree was a little farther away, but by climbing out on a bough that extended into the other tree he crept on until he could just touch one of the opposite branches, but could not get a hold.
"Looks as if I would have to go back," he decided, after he had tried and failed to get a hold on the other tree. But this, he found, was more easily said than done, for when he attempted to turn around he slipped and only his quick clutch of the swaying branch saved him from a tumble.
"This is a nice scrape I have got into," he thought, when he tried to climb back onto the limb from which he had slipped, but found it impossible. "I can't get back, and I don't see how I am to go on. I hope it will let me down easy."
CHAPTER XVI
WHERE WAS PEPPER?
"Two o'clock," said Rand, closing his watch with a snap. "An hour behind time."
The boys had been waiting at the great oak since just after noon, but Pepper had not yet come.
"Perhaps he got off the road and got lost in the woods," suggested
Jack.
"Maybe he got back sooner than he expected by some other road and went home," said Gerald. "Shall I run over and see?"
"Go ahead," replied Rand. "We will wait for you here."