CHAPTER XXI
QUEER MARKS
“What is it?”
“What was it?”
“Where is he?”
Ned, Bob and Jerry shot these questions into the darkness as theysleepily stumbled out of the tent.
“Quiet!” commanded Jerry when he realized that it was vitally necessaryto learn from which direction the call for help had come so they mightgo to the rescue. Bob and Ned understood and stood still, listening.
But though they could hear the restless moving of their horses,tethered not far away, there was no further call. Night insects,perhaps some of the very kind the professor had gone out to capture,made their characteristic sounds.
“What shall we do?” asked Ned in a whisper. “Something must be done andquickly.”
“We’ve got to call,” said Jerry in husky tones, after waiting whatseemed to his chums a long time, though it was but perhaps a fewseconds. “Let’s all yell at once.”
They raised their voices in a call that must have carried far, shoutingthe name of the missing man. But the echoes of the forest and plain wastheir only answer.
“He must have fallen and knocked himself insensible,” suggested Ned.
“But didn’t you hear what he said?” asked Jerry.
“No, I didn’t,” Ned admitted. “The call woke me, but I couldn’t makeout the words.”
“He called for help, and said, very distinctly: ‘They’ve got me,’”repeated Jerry. “I’m sure about that.”
“What did he mean?”
“That’s what we’ve got to find out.”
“Could it have been that he was attacked by a big moth--a giant of itsspecies?” ventured Bob, jokingly.
“Say, this is no joke!” exclaimed Ned, and he glanced involuntarilyover his shoulder.
“Let’s make up the fire,” suggested Jerry. “It will be a guiding markfor the professor, and we’ll not go to bed again this night--unless wefind him.”
“Why, don’t you think we shall?” asked Bob. “And say, if not a bigmoth, perhaps a wild animal----”
“Forget it,” advised Ned. “If anything in the animal line attackedthe professor it was a bear or a mountain lion, and I don’t believethere have been any of them in this region for years. I think he wentputtering around in the dark to see about getting some insects, and hefell over a cliff, or into some hole.”
“But that wouldn’t make him say something--or someone--had him,”refuted Jerry.
“That’s so,” chimed in Bob. “But let’s do something instead of standinghere talking. The professor is in trouble.”
“That’s true enough,” conceded Jerry. “Come on. We’ll get a light andmake a search. But first build up the fire.”
They threw on a quantity of light wood, and the blaze that flared upwas doubly welcome, giving both warmth and cheer, for things weregetting on the nerves of the boys, sturdy chaps though they were.
“Let’s yell again,” suggested Jerry, and once more their voices wereraised in a loud cry. They hoped with that and the sight of the fire toget some response, but none came.
“Well, we’ve got to search for him,” decided Jerry, with a sigh.
“We’ll have some hot coffee before we start out,” Bob said. “It won’ttake but a few minutes to make over that hot fire, and we’ll all feelbetter for a drink.”
There was a rude stone fireplace at one side of the main blaze, andraking some glowing embers into this Bob set the coffee pot over thecoals. In a little while he served out the hot and cheering beverage.It did put heart into the boys, and they were soon ready to set out ontheir search.
“Now we’ve got to have some sort of system to this,” said Jerry. “Itwon’t do to get separated too far, or--well, something might happen tous. Now I suggest that we make the fire the central point. We can startfrom that--the three of us, as though from three equally separatedpoints on a circle. We’ll each walk until we can just see the fire andstart to call from there.”
“Why not fire our guns?” suggested Ned.
“Yes, we can do that. But, as we haven’t any blanks, fire in the air.”
“And if we don’t get any result?” Bob asked.
“Then we’ll have to come back, after a reasonable time and wait untilmorning. I haven’t much hope of finding him in the dark, anyhow, foronce a person starts to wander he gets more and more confused.”
“Then you think he wandered away?” asked Ned.
“I don’t know what to think,” was Jerry’s answer, and it was a bitdespondent. “I wish we had a few hours of daylight.”
“The night can’t last forever,” Bob said softly.
“No, but it’s only half gone--it’s only a bit after twelve,” respondedJerry, looking at his watch in the light of an electric flashlight hehad brought from the tent.
The boys prepared for the night search. They started from the fire,pacing off equal distances, and then went forward into the darkness.Every now and then they would look back to see that they had not lostsight of the guiding beacon behind them.
At intervals they called--shouting the professor’s name. Intently theylistened for an answer, but none came. Nor was there any response tothe shots they fired.
An hour was spent thus fruitlessly, and then they came back to the campblaze.
“No use, I guess,” Jerry said. “You two didn’t hear anything, did you?”
“No,” answered Bob, and as Ned shook his head negatively he asked:
“Did the professor have a revolver with him?”
“I told him to take one when we started out from the ranch, and alwayskeep it with him,” said Jerry. “Whether he did or not I can’t say.”
“Let’s see if he left it with his stuff in the tent,” suggested Ned.
They looked near the place where the professor had slept. Some of hisbelongings--spare insect nets, specimen boxes and the like--were on theground, but there was no weapon of any sort.
“Guess he must have taken it,” Jerry said. “The question is--will hethink to use it?”
“He ought to have used it on whatever attacked him,” Bob said.
The boys became silent. They loved Professor Snodgrass and they did notknow what to do to help him. That he was in trouble they knew. But itwas literally groping in the dark to try to do anything further untildaylight.
They went back into the tent, for it was warm there from the heat ofthe blaze, but none of them felt like sleeping. Bob got up and began torummage among some packages.
“What are you looking for?” asked Jerry.
“Seeing how much grub we have left. You can’t tell how long we may haveto stay if we don’t find the professor.”
For once Bob’s chums did not rebuke him for mentioning something to eat.
“You’re right,” said Jerry. “We didn’t bring enough for a long stay.”
“I packed a pretty good lot,” said Bob, “and I’m glad I did. We couldstay a couple of days, I think, with what we could shoot. Then if wedon’t find him we’ll have to go back to the ranch for more.”
“Oh, we’ll find him before then,” declared Ned.
Jerry said nothing.
Morning came. They were astir with the first faint glow in the eastand made a quick breakfast. They decided to keep together, for theywere in a strange country, and to hunt in a circle with the camp as acenter. Having hidden their main supply of food after putting up somefor a noon-time “snack,” they mounted their horses and fared forth.
They were not experienced enough in wood lore to pick up theprofessor’s trail. All they knew was that he had started out in somedirection from the tent. They argued that he would keep on going west,as the ranch lay to the east of the camp, and he would, most likely,want to explore new country for his moths.
For a while they discovered nothing, and there came no answer totheir shouts. Then, as Ned was riding a little in advance, he gave asurprised cry and called eagerly:
“Look here, fellows!”
“Wh
at is it?” asked Jerry, as he and Bob galloped up.
“Look at those queer marks!” cried Ned, pointing to the ground.