"Sandy! Hello! where are you?"
Through the desolate forest, with its blackened carpet, the sound of his voice came back to mock him. Nothing else responded to his hail.
Louder than before he shouted, but there was no answering call. Bob again felt that terrible chill in the region of his heart. A brief time before, and he had been apparently burning up; now he was shivering.
"There it is!" he suddenly cried, as he happened to let his wandering gaze fall upon a tree that seemed to have a gap in its side.
He hurried forward. Even as he advanced other familiar things greeted him, so that his last lingering doubt vanished.
"It's the tree, surely," he muttered, straining his eyes to see within, and almost holding his very breath lest he discover a motionless figure in the cavity.
But it was empty!
At least Sandy had not been smothered by the dense smoke; he must have left his retreat.
"Oh! I hope he stayed here until the worst was over!" was the cry that burst from the boy, as he stood there, staring into the empty cache, which he had intended to be a means of life-saving to his brother.
He turned and looked around. There did not seem to be a living thing in sight. Animals and birds had all been driven away by the fire, which was doubtless still rushing through the woods far to the south.