Dan and Brad followed Mr. Holloway and the cubmaster to the fringe of woods, leaving the other Cubs to make their way up the hill. Mr. Hatfield took an optimistic view of the disappearance.
“Red has good sense,” he said. “Furthermore, unless he’s forgotten Cub training, he’ll eventually find his way back to camp or to the road. The worst is, if he doesn’t show up shortly, his parents will be scared.”
Ahead, the cool forest loomed dark and rather terrifying. By day, the trails wound pleasantly through the preserve, skirting ravines and crossing rustic bridges. But now, the entire area had a forbidding appearance.
“We all must stay close together,” Mr. Hatfield instructed. “Now Dan, show us where it was that you last saw Red.”
Dan already had identified the spot, a narrow gap through two tall birch trees. He had noted the place, for the white trunks had stood out distinctly in the starlight.
After he had pointed it out, Mr. Hatfield went ahead, flashing the bright beam of his flashlight on the ground.
“Red came this way, all right,” he declared, elated at having picked up the trail so easily. “See! Here’s a deep heel mark in the mud.”
“What could have induced him to wander off?” Mr. Holloway speculated. “I thought Red knew better. He evidently had no intention of gathering wood because he passed up plenty of it at the edge of the woods.”
In the dark forest, it became increasingly difficult to follow Red’s trail. After moving deeper into the trees, the party halted to listen for a moment and then to shout Red’s name.
“He’s wandered a long distance away, that’s sure,” the cubmaster said. “Perhaps to the ravine. Our voices might not carry to him there.”
“But why would Red go that far?” Brad asked himself aloud. “I can’t understand it. He only intended to play a little joke on the Cubs.”
Mr. Hatfield, in advance of the others, halted so abruptly that Brad bumped into him.
“Hello, here’s something!” the cubmaster exclaimed.
He stooped to pick up a paper sack lying in plain view on a log.
“That’s the one Red had!” Brad cried, instantly recognizing it.
Inside the sack, Mr. Hatfield found a neatly folded bearskin rug.
“Red intended to play a joke on the Cubs all right,” he commented. “But something caused him to change his mind.”