Tad considered for a moment.
"Wait," he said, a sudden idea coming to him. "I do not remember this particular spot, but when I left the camp I blazed trees all along so I could find my way back. If there are any marks on the trees here, I made them."
The men leaped from their ponies and began examining the trees, from the cliff back several rods. Not a sign of fresh blazing were they able to discover.
"There"s nothing here," announced the leader.
"Then I didn"t go this way," answered Tad, with a note of finality in his tone.
"We are too far to the north, boys. Turn around and follow the canyon."
This they did until they had proceeded for something like half an hour, when the leader of the rescue party decided to get down again and examine the trees.
"Here"s a blaze. Is that yours, kid?" he exclaimed.
Tad examined the mark on the tree carefully, having first lighted a match to aid him.
"Yes, yes; I did that."
"Then we"ve gone by the place. There can"t be anybody there or we would have seen the camp-fire."
"They must be there! Let"s go back over the ground!" exclaimed Tad.
The men turned about without another word. After a few moments had pa.s.sed Tad began calling loudly.
Soon a shout just ahead of them told the party that at last they had found that which they were in search of.
Tad uttered a glad cry.
"Where are you?"
"Here," answered the voice of Stacy Brown.
Tad put spurs to his pony and dashed up to where he thought the voice had come from.
"Where are the rest of the boys?"
"Got anything to eat?" asked Chunky, rousing himself to full wakefulness.
"Yes, plenty. But where"s Ned and Walter? Are they asleep?"
insisted Tad Butler half fearfully.
"I don"t know."
"What do you mean?"
"Ned went off to hunt some game because we didn"t have anything to eat. He hasn"t come back. Walt got crazy about it and I guess he went out to look for him, though he didn"t tell me he was going to--"
"What time was that?" interrupted Tad.
"When Ned went away?"
"No, when did Walter leave?"
"I don"t know. It was somewhere about sundown when I saw him last."
"Which way do you think he went?"
"That way, I guess," replied Chunky, pointing.
By this time the men had lighted the fire.
"Give that boy something to eat right now," commanded the leader the moment he set eyes on Stacy. "He"s half starved. He can hardly stand."
They opened the package of food at once, giving the once fat boy a little at a time at first and compelling him to eat slowly.
"Then there is not one of them here but Chunky," muttered Tad.
"No--n.o.body but me and the mules," answered Stacy quickly.
No one thought of laughing.
"Are we not going out to look for the others now?" asked Tad.
"Yes, I reckon we might as well," decided the leader. "We"ll leave your friend here till morning. One of our men will remain here with him. At daylight they will start for the Red Star. If anything has been heard there of the folks we are looking for, they can then send word back to us so we don"t spend the rest of our lives hunting for them."
His plan seemed a logical one to Tad. The party was to spread out, covering a large area, literally dragging the mountains with a human net, it being agreed that when one made a discovery he was to inform the others by shooting twice into the air.
After having received their instructions the men quickly rode away.
The moon had come out, lighting the way and making their journey much easier.
Stacy gave no further heed to the miner who had been left in charge of him, and promptly went to sleep on a full stomach. He had not experienced that agreeable sensation for some time.
The night was well advanced when two sharp reports from the south told the searchers that some of their party had gained tidings of the absent ones.
Each man wheeled sharply about and raced for the camp as rapidly as the rough trail would permit, arriving there about the time their leader rode in with Walter Perkins. He had found the lad less than half a mile from camp. Beyond being very badly frightened, Walter seemed none the worse for his experience. Instead of having followed the direction in which he had started, Walter had gradually worn around to the north until finally he was headed back toward their original starting point.
In a short time he realized that he was lost. He called loudly for help, but as there was no one to hear his cries, he had at last thrown himself down on the ground in despair to wait for morning.
It was there that the leader of the rescue party had stumbled upon him, Walter having heard and answered his hail.
"That"s one. Spread out again, boys. We"ll rope the rest of the youngsters before morning. They can"t be far away. The Professor, as they call him, has a horse, and there"s no telling where he is by this time."
But the task they had set for themselves this time, was not quite so easy of accomplishment.