Page:Cornelia Meigs-The Pirate of Jasper Peak.djvu/109

 of this hill, and joining where we are now. You follow this one, going up and down the slope on  one side of the ravine to find traces of where the  boys might have passed by or camped. When you reach the swampy land where the stream rises,  turn back and come down the other side. Then when you get to where the two streams meet, follow up the other branch in the same way. It will take you nearly all day to do that and to come  back here, where it is easy enough to find the way  home.”

Hugh agreed to follow these instructions carefully and went off, a good deal elated at being trusted to search alone. He found the ravine narrow and the going very rough. He clambered laboriously up and down, up and down, finding  nothing but some very old deer tracks and the  footprints of some little wood animals that he  could not identify. Before long he grew hot and rather tired and sat down by the stream to rest. He began to wonder if there were not some easier way of performing the task and presently decided  that there was. The valley was so small that he