“WHAT IN THE WORLD HAS BECOME OF THEM?”
“I do wonder what in the world has become of them,” wailed Tom.
“Ye sartinly couldn’t expect ter round them thar chaps up to onct,” said Jed. “They might be a-sittin’ snug an’ comfortable on t’ other side o’ a ridge, for all we know—eh, Pete?”
The big cow-puncher, not disposed to take so cheerful a view of the situation, evaded this question.
“We’d best git a fire goin’, boys,” he said, “an’ cook some grub.”
Pete looked up at the sky showing between the dark, waving branches of the pines and saw a procession of low clouds scudding across.
“I suppose you’ve got a weather eye as good as Skillet’s, eh, Pete?” said Cranny.
“I ’low there’s sure goin’ ter be a change soon, younker,” answered the cowboy, indirectly. “I kin see signs o’ its breakin’ a’ready.”
“If the moon would only be obliging enough to come out, we could keep right on searching,” remarked Tim Lovell.