"Pepper!" cried Jack. "Where in the world have you been?"
"Where in the world haven't I been?" he responded.
"You evidently found yourself," asserted the colonel.
"Is it really you, Pepper?" asked Gerald; "and where did you hide yourself?" and other questions came thick and fast.
"Just returned from delivery of the message to the Highpoint Scouts," finally answered the boy when he was afforded an opportunity to speak.
"Highpoint! Why, we went to Highpoint!" cried Rand, "and you had not been there. Which way did you go?"
"Don't know," replied the messenger. "Round by Robin Hood's barn, I guess; but I came out on the side of the cliff, and the Highpoints fortunately found me."
"But how did you get out of the tree?" asked the colonel. "We couldn't find any trail."
"Did you know I was up a tree? Well, I climbed into the next tree," was the reply.
"Ah!" said the colonel, "that accounts for it. I never thought of that."