“Show me, won’t you?” begged Bud, who appeared unable to locate the exact spot in his excitement. So they bent their heads close together, allowing him to get the range of their extended fingers.
“There he is,” said Billy, “just where that last fair-sized branch shoots out toward the left. Look hard, and you’ll be sure to see something caught in the crotch. That’s the man, Bud. And believe me, it must have been a whopper of a jar when he struck there, after being dragged by that runaway balloon.”
“I wonder if he is dead?” said Arthur in an awed half whisper.
“Don’t you believe it,” Billy declared.
“But he might be, Billy,” added Bud, taking sides with Arthur, “because, as you just said, he must have been slammed into that crotch terribly hard.”
“But you never saw anybody that was dead move his arm, did you?” demanded the positive Billy.
At that the others showed signs of surrender.
“Course not,” remarked Bud; “and if you saw him do that, he must be alive. What do you think, Hugh?”
“I’m not so sure as Billy,” returned the patrol leader, “but I thought I saw his arm move once. That might have been only when it slipped down from some position. But I’m going to find out right away, boys.”
“Hugh’s going to climb the tree,” suggested Bud quickly, taking it for granted that this was what the other meant when he made his last remark.