The Boy Scouts of the Geological Survey

tmeal and milk since five o'clock that morning, and he had taken no provisions with him. Assailed now by the pangs of a

fully, furnishing him with a welcome salad. He gathered a hatful of last autumn's chestnuts--somewhat soggy, to be sure--and, making a small fire of leaves and bark, he proceeded to r

watch, at least," he said to himself. "It was foolish of me to start off without one,

iliar, the trees taller and set more thickly together, the undergrowth almost impenetrable. Still he fought on. It seemed he had never been so far in this direc

was a miserable, heart-breaking tramp, one which might have caused a less plucky lad to sit down and give way to doleful helplessness. Ev

gh the undergrowth the sound grew louder and louder, until finally he emerged from the thicket and stood upon the bank of a deep

ile, and here I am not far from my boulder where--ouch!" The sentence ended in a loud wail of agony, for, ta

ony from welling to his eyes. How could he walk the remaining distance home? Even with an improvised crutch made from a forked branch of some tree, it would be

had only not

the probability that Keno's return without him would be the means of sending some one to the rescue. This was some conso

the swelling. He held his foot there, shivering with relief, then he stretched himself out on the bank of the stream, in the warm sunlight. Whereupon, with anxious mind and weary body soothed by the loud splash of the

slanting down through the branches, making an intricate tracery of shadows on the ground. The air was beginning to ha

here, but she might have telephoned to Tom Walsh and asked him to find out what had become of the missing hunter. He made ano

r'll not worry; she may not have noticed Keno, after all, if he went straight to the barn. I remember I left the door

lt between three big rocks that formed a natural oven, over which he laid a hastily constructed grill made of green alder withes. On this grill he intended to broil whatever game he could br

o blanket or poncho he would need to keep up a brisk fire and to sleep as near it as possible.

the base of the fourth rock, and after about an hour--during which the squirrel was broiling deliciously--he raked away all the hot ashes, and curled up on the dried warm ground. This proved to be a

e noise of the waterfall which drowned all other sounds. Once, an owl, attracted by the fire, perched on a low overhanging branch and sta

with Bill Terrill, of frantic digging in the ground for impossible gold. Twice he was wakened

Of course, the Pointers go around the North star once in twenty-four hours, so that makes a kin

a man's voice calling his name. Or was this only another dream? He sat up and listened intently. The call sound

Ralph! Where

ter of loose stones and a c

nd the glow of his own fire, which intensified the weird shadows of the forest; but he could hear the shou

I am!" he yelled excit

g the tree-trunks. Simultaneously, he heard the snorting of a startled horse. He stood up, leaning against his rock, and gave a peculiar thro

s on foot, detached themselves from the enveloping darkness and advanced into

--on Keno,--Jack Dur

ching party had exchanged greetings with Ralph, fervently overjoyed to see

ed the object

o, and tried to take a shortcut through the woods, I got lost somehow; and besides, I sprained my ankle, so

. "But the doc is there at the house now, with her; she migh

t away--unless you fellows wa

d Tom Sherwood. "H

ods by this fire!" he replied evasively. "Let's warm ourselves and--and h

e on, youngster; you and Ralph get on the nag

ttled, to Ralph's sa

ad. Jack carried the lantern, while Ralph, with one hand on the bridle, the other holding the two eagles tied and balanced across the saddle, allowed Keno to pick his own way along th