Jack obeyed, and repeated the name of Willie in a loud voice again and again. But only the echoes of the great woods answered. If the boy were within reach of that cheery hail he must be wrapped in the sleep of exhaustion, and unable to reply.
Finally Jack ceased to call, for he was growing very husky.
The search still went on with unabated zeal, each boy trying to vie with his mates in the endeavor to make some new discovery. Paul examined every faint print of that little foot, desirous of fixing the time it was made. Wallace joined him in this, and it was clearly shown that hours must have elapsed since the child passed that way.
"Still, he may be within fifty yards of where we are. Let's keep at it as long as we can, and only camp when some are too tired to go on," declared Paul, greatly disappointed to think that they had thus far been baffled by hard luck.
It was astonishing to see how far the little fellow had wandered; but fear always lends wings to the feet; and all the while Willie doubtless really believed he must be heading toward home.
And Paul noted another fact that somehow gave him new interest in the enterprise. By degrees the trail had swung around to the left, as is nearly always the case when grown persons are lost; and the principle seemed to hold good in the case of even a child.
In itself this was not strange; but Paul knew that if they kept on for another hour the chances were they would come upon the old mill pond, nestling in the valley. The fact caused him to remember his friend Mr. Pender; to once more mentally see that red motor with the khaki-colored top; and to picture the two strangers who had asked him so many questions.
Was this really an accident, their being drawn out toward the farm of the unneighborly Sol Smithers; or might it turn out to be the working of destiny?
He was aroused by a call that he had been expecting to hear for some time now.
One of the scouts felt forced to admit that he was "all in." They had done manly work to keep up the tramp all this time, being but boys at best.
It meant that camp must be made, and the balance of the night spent there in the woods, waiting for day to come to renew their search.
Poor little Willie was destined then to pass still more hours, surrounded by the terrors of the black and unknown forest. But probably by this time he must be so exhausted through his unusual exertions that he was dead to the world in sleep; so it would not matter very much.