“Not a trace. It begins to look more and more as if they ditched the bomb over this area. Search teams are working in toward us methodically from both Lake Superior and Manitoba where the plane crashed. We’ll just have to do what we can until reinforcements arrive.”
To the west heat lightning lit up the sky like a monster flash bulb. Sandy shivered as they walked slowly in the direction of the foreman’s cottage. The air seemed to be buzzing with electricity.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Fire!
After breakfast the next morning, Russ Steele and the boys said goodbye to Jonas Driscoll and started back in the direction of Red Lake. Once again they fanned out at 1500-foot intervals, as soon as they were out of sight of the logging camp.
“It seems like such a waste of time,” Jerry complained. “We’re never going to find that bomb, just four guys in a big woods like this.”
“Most likely we won’t,” Russ admitted. “Our team is only a small cog in the vast search machinery, but the ultimate success of the operation depends on how well each small team does its job. The military doesn’t expect us to march straight to where the bomb is and say, ‘Here it is, fellows!’ What they do expect is for us to be able to say with certainty where the bomb is not lying. Gradually, by a process of elimination, they’ll be able to pinpoint its exact location.”
The trek south was just as unrewarding as the trek north. They covered twenty-five miles by dusk, when they made camp and cooked a simple supper of beans and bacon. The boys were so weary that they sacked in before it was completely dark. Russ Steele sat outside awhile smoking his pipe and watching the moon climb into the cloudless heavens.
In the early afternoon of the following day, they arrived back at the ranger station. Dick Fellows signaled them with a flashing mirror from the tower when they were still a half mile away. By the time they arrived, he had a pitcher of iced tea frosting on the table.
“No luck,” he said flatly, as soon as he saw their faces.
Russ shook his head. “How about yourself? Still no rain in sight?”