Page:The Outdoor Chums.djvu/169

Rh camp before they discovered some one moving through the bushes ahead.

"There he is!" exclaimed Bluff, eagerly, as he raised his hand to his mouth, as if about to give a "cooie."

"Hold on! I don't believe it is. There, you see, it's a man, and a hunter, too, I expect, for he's carrying a gun," interrupted Frank.

"Perhaps he may have seen Jerry. Shall we ask him?" demanded Will.

"If we keep on straight we're going to meet him, and, of course, we'll ask. I only hope he has, though I doubt it Do either of you know him?"

Frank asked this because he was comparatively a newcomer in Centerville, while the other boys had been raised there.

"Seems to me I've seen him before," exclaimed Bluff. "Why, yes, it's Mr. Smithson. He lives in Centerville—that is, his family does, because he isn't home much. You see he's one of the wardens over at the State insane asylum at Merrick."

"What?" cried Frank, startled; "then perhaps he may not be hunting wild animals after all. Suppose one of the mad inmates of that institution escaped, and is up here roaming through the woods?"