jake and sam, who had been sent to the distant part of the woods to build the long chute, of course knew nothing of teddy having been sent to call them back to help mend the broken machinery in the sawmill. meanwhile the foreman and his “gang” did the best they could without the two missing ones.
“i don’t see why jake and sam didn’t hurry back here to help us,” said one lumberman.
“that’s so,” agreed another. “it would have been a lot easier if they had been here.”
just then the foreman looked up, after the hardest part of the work had been finished, and he said:
“there come jake and sam now.”
surely enough, the chute builders were approaching.
[162]“well, you took your own time getting here,” said the foreman.
“took our own time? what do you mean?” asked jake.
“didn’t you tell us to stay in the woods and finish making that new chute to send the logs down to the river?” asked sam.
“yes, but a while ago i sent the curlytop boy to tell you to hurry back here and help us. we had an accident in the sawmill, but it’s all fixed now. why didn’t you two come?”
“because no one told us to,” was the answer.
“didn’t you see teddy?” asked the foreman, whose name was tod everett.
“nary a sign of him,” answered jake.
“whew!” whistled tod. “he must have wandered off—maybe he went fishing—and forgot to tell you. but he’s a pretty good boy for his age. i don’t believe he’d do a thing like forgetting on purpose.”
“what do you think happened?” asked jake.
“i’m afraid he didn’t know in what part of the woods to look for you, though he was sure he knew his way,” said the foreman. “but maybe his mother saw him going and[163] called him back. i’d better go over to the house and find out. it’s getting late and will soon be dark.”
tod everett, the foreman, tried not to let his voice sound anxious as he asked mrs. martin:
“is teddy around?”
“no,” she answered. “isn’t he over at the mill with you?”
the foreman shook his head.
“he was there,” he replied. “but we had an accident and——”
“an accident!” cried mrs. martin.
“don’t be worried! it was just that one of the saws broke. no one was hurt, and teddy wasn’t even around when it happened. but i needed jake and sam to help the other men, and i was going to send one of the men for them, over where they were building a chute, when teddy offered to go. he said he knew the way.”
“yes, i suppose he does,” agreed mrs. martin. “didn’t he go?”
“i thought he had until jake and sam came back just now and said they hadn’t seen him,” went on the foreman. “i thought maybe you saw him starting off and called him back.”
[164]“no, i didn’t,” said mrs. martin. “i am afraid something may have happened to him,” she added.
“the only thing that could happen would be that he might get on the wrong trail and wander off a little bit,” said tod. “i’ll get the gang out and we’ll soon find him.”
a few minutes later mr. martin arrived, and though he was worried when told about the absence of teddy, he believed that the missing curlytop lad would shortly be found.
“but it will soon be night!” his wife remarked.
“we’ll find him before then,” he said.
a searching party was quickly organized, two of them, in fact, one to go one way and the second another way. and as the shadows began to get longer, showing that darkness was on its way, the lumbermen, led by mr. martin, started off into the forest.
“oh, i do hope they find teddy before it gets dark!” sighed janet.
“so do i,” murmured her mother.
meanwhile perhaps we had better find out what happened to teddy.
as i have told you, he thought he surely knew the way to the place where jake and[165] sam were working on the new lumber chute. he had been there before once or twice. but as he walked along and along the path he saw it growing fainter and fainter, showing that it was not much used.
and then teddy knew that he was lost!
but he was a brave little fellow, and, brushing his curly hair back from his eyes, he picked up a stout stick for a club and walked on.
“i guess i’d better go back home,” he said to himself.
he turned about, and thought he started straight back over the way he came. but if you have ever been in the deep woods, you know how much one tree looks like another and that all the bushes seem the same. so teddy could not tell when he had turned completely around to go back.
as a matter of fact, he turned only partly around and, instead of heading for the bungalow, he was wandering away from it almost as much as when he started straight away to get the lumbermen.
for a time teddy tramped on, quite sure he was going back to the bungalow. he was a little disappointed that he had not been[166] able to find the lumbermen to tell them to go back and help at the sawmill.
“i guess mr. everett will think i’m not much good,” mused ted. “if i couldn’t do a little errand like that he won’t want me to do things for him again. it’s too bad! but i didn’t think it was so easy to get lost in the woods.”
teddy was more lost than he realized, and he became aware of this when he saw that it was growing dusky. the sun was beginning to set, and though it was still light out in the open, in the fields and meadows, the woods had already begun to darken, as the dying rays of the sun could not get between the trees.
after having walked, as he thought, many miles, though it was very likely not more than two, teddy became very tired and a little frightened.
then he happened to think of something an older boy had told him to do when lost in the woods.
“when you think you’re lost in the woods, don’t rush about, but sit down and wait for a while. help may come. and, anyhow, sit down for a while until you get quiet and[167] aren’t so excited. you can’t think well when you’re excited.”
and teddy was certainly excited now. i suppose you would have been that way yourself if you were lost and alone in the woods as was the curlytop boy.
“i’ll sit down and think!” decided teddy.
he did this, waiting and hoping that some one might happen along to lead him back to camp, which he could not find by himself. but as he sat there and the shadows grew longer, he began to worry and to think that he had better be doing something for himself.
“i’ll call,” decided teddy, and he sent out loud shouts.
now, as it happened, he did not begin to yell for help until after jake and sam had left their working place in the woods and were on their way home. otherwise the lumbermen might have heard the boy’s cries. but chance so had it that when he was calling they were tramping through the underbrush too far away to hear him.
also teddy’s shouts did not echo through the woods at the time the searching parties started out, for not until jake and sam[168] reached camp did it become known that the curlytop lad was lost.
“help! help! help!”
again and again teddy cried this, but the only answers were the echoes from the woods and hills that now were in deeper shadows.
“oh, dear!” thought the boy. “sitting still and shouting isn’t going to do any good. i’m going to walk along.”
and this is where teddy made a mistake. he should have remained in one place, and then the searchers who soon started out might have found him. but when he walked on again, he wandered farther and farther away from them.
teddy was in a sore plight. he was tired and hungry and lost. that was too much for one small boy. any one of them was trouble enough all alone, but when the three came together—well, it was terrible, so teddy thought, and i believe you will agree with him.
still he was not going to give up, sit down, and cry about it. as long as there was a little light in the woods he would tramp on, hoping he might, somehow, wander back to the bungalow.
[169]but as it grew darker and darker, and teddy thought he saw strange sights and shadows in the woods, his heart beat very fast. once he thought he saw a great bear thrusting out a hairy paw toward him, and he started to run. but he turned back in time to see that it was only a waving tree branch.
“i have got to get home! i just have to!” half-sobbed teddy. on he ran again. it was so dark now that he could not see the ground very well, and his foot caught in a trailing vine, tripping him so that he fell.
“oh, dear!” he cried.
but the forest ground was covered with a thick coating of fallen leaves of other years, and these made a soft cushion on which he had fallen.
up he rose again, more desperate than before. he clenched his hands tightly, his hunger now forgotten and his only idea being to rush away out of the darkness, back to the light and cheerfulness of the bungalow.
for a moment teddy was dazed. then, as his mind cleared, he looked through the trees and caught a glimpse of a light. at first he thought it was a campfire, but soon[170] saw it was only the last fading rays of the red sunset.
“i’ll go that way—toward the sun,” decided teddy.
on and on he stumbled. once, before he knew it, he had walked into a swampy place in the woods, and his feet got wet. but this was a small matter now. his heart thumped under his little jacket, and he had to close his teeth hard to keep from screaming out.
“but i mustn’t be a coward! i mustn’t be a coward!” thought teddy.
on and on he went. the red sunset died away. the woods were now very dark.
suddenly, through the gloom, came a strange cry. it was a high, shrill wail, and at first teddy thought some one had called to him.
“here i am! here i am!” he answered.
then, as the strange, wailing cry sounded again, teddy knew it was no person calling.
it was some animal!
