come. The last of his comrades was gone, and he was alone in the
forest.




CHAPTER III

THE HUT ON THE ISLET


Henry Ware waited at least a quarter of an hour by the creek on
the exact spot at which he and Solomon Hyde, called the shiftless
one, had parted, but he knew all the while that his last comrade
was not coming. The same powerful and mysterious hand that swept
the others away had taken him, the wary and cunning Shif'less
Sol, master of forest lore and with all the five senses developed
to the highest pitch. Yet his powers had availed him nothing,
and the boy again felt that cold chill running down his spine.

Henry expected the omnipotent force to come against him, also,
but his instinctive caution made him turn and creep into the
thickest of the forest, continuing until he found a place in the
bushes so thoroughly hidden that no one could see him ten feet
away. There he lay down and rapidly ran over in his mind the
events connected with the four disappearances. They were few,
and he had little on which to go, but his duty to seek his four
comrades, since he alone must do it, was all the greater. Such a
thought as deserting them and fleeing for his own life never
entered his mind. He would not only seek them, but he would