The Boy Scouts of the Geological Survey by Robert Shaler
page 32 of 94 (34%)
page 32 of 94 (34%)
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Presently he was wakened, for a third time, by a man's voice
calling his name. Or was this only another dream? He sat up and listened intently. The call sounded from some point back on the trail, and there could be no mistaking its reality; it was loud, gruff, yet kindly. "Ralph! Oh-o, Ralph! Where are you, lad?" Then came a tremendous clatter of loose stones and a crashing in the undergrowth. The lone camper, benighted and forlorn, peered around him on all sides. At first he could see nothing beyond the glow of his own fire, which intensified the weird shadows of the forest; but he could hear the shouts and the ringing tramp of a horse's hoofs on the stony ground. He raised his voice in answer to the call. "This way! Ki-i-o! Here I am!" he yelled excitedly. "Is that you, Tom?" In a minute or two, as his eyes became accustomed to the pitch darkness beyond the firelight, he beheld the flicker of a lantern shining among the tree-trunks. Simultaneously, he heard the snorting of a startled horse. He stood up, leaning against his rock, and gave a peculiar throaty call that ended in the name "Ke-ee-no-o"---and then, to his delight, the intelligent old horse responded with a loud whinny of recognition. The next moment three shadowy forms, those of a man on horseback and two others on foot, detached themselves from the enveloping darkness |
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