could the same power have seized Paul? It was a premonition, and
he paled under his brown, turning away lest the others see his
face. All three now examined the whole circle of the horizon for
a sight of moving bushes that would tell of the boy's coming.

The forest told nothing. The sun blazed brightly over
everything, and Paul, like Long Jim, did not come. He was an
hour past due, and the three, oppressed already by Long jim's
disappearance, were convinced that he would not return. But they
gave him a half hour longer. Then Henry said:

"We must hunt for him, but we must not separate. Whatever
happens we three must stay together."

I'm not hankerin' to roam 'roun jest now all by myself," said the
shiftless one, with an uneasy laugh.

The three hunted all that afternoon for Paul. Once they saw
trace of footsteps, apparently his, in some soft earth, but they
were quickly, lost on hard ground, and after that there was
nothing. They stopped shortly before sunset at the edge of a
narrow but deep creek.

"What do you think of it, Henry?" asked Shif'less Sol.

"I don't know what to think," replied the youth, "but it seems to
me that whatever took away Jim has taken away Paul, also."

"Looks like it," said Sol, "an' I guess it follers that we're in
the same kind o' danger."