“Umph! Can’t be much later if he means to ketch up with us before dark,” Lon observed.
There was point to the remark. The gloomy afternoon was shading into a twilight which gave promise of a pitchy night to follow. The rain still fell in undiminished volume. At any other time Sam might have laughed at the picture made by his companions. Lon’s “slicker” and Tom’s heavy mackintosh ran little streams in every wrinkle, while others dripped briskly from the brims of their head-gear.
“Come on!” Sam said impatiently.
This time they were on the right trail, though, of course, none of the three could know it. It was easily followed until it brought them to the point on the river bank where Varley and the Shark had halted for a time; but there they lost it. The drenched thickets hid footprints, and the growing darkness was a steadily increasing handicap.
Lon frowned in perplexity. “I swan, but I don’t like this!” he declared. “This river’s practically bank full and sloppin’ over. Look there!” He pointed to a little stream which was finding its way across a low spot on the shore. “This is goin’ to be jest one big frog pond before long, or I’ll eat my hat.”
“Let’s go a little farther, anyway!” Sam urged.
“With you there, Sam!” cried Lon readily enough.
“Of course—only thing to do,” said Orkney curtly.
They went on, following the bank. As a matter of fact, the footing there was better than it was at a greater distance from the stream; for here was one of the low-lying, swampy patches, which were actually lower than the dike-like ridge along the river. At the best, though, progress was slow. There were tangles of brush; there were gullies, now turned into channels for the water; there were spots where the snow had given place to a sticky and treacherous mire.
Now and then one or the other of the searchers shouted lustily. It can hardly be said that an answer was expected, but after each hail there was a halt, in which the three strained their ears. Perhaps this was because their eyes could pierce the gloom for but a little way.