Los Angeles herald., 1908-04-26

| curtis prepared breakfast.
Eight-nine-ten o'clock, and no news had
come of the missing boys. Jethro had re-
turned from his tramp, unable to make any
report excepting that he had seen footprints
showing where the boys had left the path to
strike into the woods. and also those made
by their visitor of the evening previous.
Jim and Pete had also come back. They
had rowed two miles each way; had shouted
at short intervals, but had received no reply.
Then they waited another hour in sqs-
pense. At the end of that time, Jethro, who
had been in a deep study, said. decidedly:
Il don't believe. they'll come here. They
they're more likely to strike out on the cut
| off than anywhere else. Now" he added,
more hopefully, Il reckon can follow them
boys wherever they. went, an III do Il III
down somewhere at the corner. of the bend,
an it can't be more'n three miles across this
island, either way"
but why wouldn't it be better for me to
go with you@ asked jim. I'VE can leave
Pete to take care of the boat"
mo; the best thing for you. to do is jest
to keep on around the bend the same as If
nothn' had happened. Leave one of the
the boys what you've done. They can then,
in case / miss 'em, git into the skf an pad
die down stream, an make two miles, u they
half try, to every OF the fat-boats.
Jim, heartily; 'it is all that We can do with
any show of success. Come and help Pete
and me pull one of the skiffs up on the bank,
SO that thereH be no chance of her going
| adr1ft, and then you can start.
While this was being DONE. Nellie and her
mother prepared a package of provisions and
bottle of cold coffee for Jethro, who start
ed on his tramp almost Immediately, saying,
as he left the boat:
Don't you fear but. that well find EN-
an all safe an sound. too"
Mrs. Curtis put a package containing at
least two days supply of food in the skif,
| 4t,ok
be nearly famshed by the time they arrived
at the landing, il indeed they arrived there
at all, and then the River Queen was loosed
from her moorings, and began to drift slowly
around the bend.
Jim allowed the boat to drift on as long as
he dared to, passing or two good moor
| ing places which he feared he might regret
leaving, and half an hour before sunset it
| became necessary to tie up for the night.
On landing, Jims first step was to start
another fire on the shore and he and Pete
chopped wood steadily until nightfall in order
to have fuel enough to keep it going until
morning
When Jethro left the River Queen he had
made up his mind to the course he should
pursue, and he set about i with the dellb-
Grafton of a person who fully believes in the
| truth of the old proverb of Haste makes
waste"
The first thing he did after getting into the
woods was to provide himself with short
| club, and, thus armed, he felt prepared to
meet even the gruff stranger who had paid
them visit at the boat
| Jethro thought, although he had said moth
in some way interfere with the boys, and his
| suspicious pointed directly to the theft that
| had actually been committed.
| He knew that in that out-of-the.way place
| two fine double-barrsled guns, with plenty
of ammunition. were just such prizes as a
man like their late visitor would desire and
| try to gain by fair means or foul; and it was
in search of this very person that ne had
trttofin hat xUha ha mo- had
found, the boys would not be very far away.
For this reason it was that when he saw
the place where the man had left the path,
he followed the footsteps without going any
further to see those made by Bent and True.
The ground was moist from the spring rains, +,
and it would have been a very near-sighted
individual who could not have seen the broad
trail.
Jethro could continue his pursuit almost
as fast as, if he had been travelling over
well-defined path.
1t was quite late in the afternoon when he
came to the place where the man had first
seen the campfire made by the boys, and in
making the abrupt turn back to the tree from
which the guns had been stolen Jethro lost
mitting the theft, had not exactly retraced
his steps, but had made another trail fifteen
or twenty feet further on in a parallel line.,,
Then for moment Jethro was confused
by seeing the footprints of three persons in
stead of one. He was not long in solving
the mystery, however. &
cts Jest as | thought all aleng," he said
to himself. Here's where the boys stopped i
over night, an after Jim told that villain
that they were in the woods, he hunted them
up and stole something. The boys have fol-
lcred him, an the chances are that he'll do
em some mischief before they get shut of
him."
Jethro pressed on now with anxious haste,
for did not real danger threaten the young
hunters? He did not abate his speed until
it was SO dark that he could no longer see
the trail Then he stopped and was consider
ing the necessity of finding suitable place
for spending the night, when the sound of
footsteps in the underbrush at a little dis
tance startled him.