"worrah! worrah! but this is a fine scare you've been givin' tim o'rooney, so me uncle said whin they towld him his wife was coming over to ameriky to see him. here i've been awake fur the last two hours, jist, looking and expacting you to come back, and thinking the red colored gintleman had carried you away entirely——"

howard impatiently interrupted him.

"have you seen or heard anything of elwood?"

"no-o-o!" replied tim, his answer rising and falling in a circumflex through a half-dozen notes of the scale.

"then he is lost!"

"what?" fairly shrieked the irishman.

"he is lost in the woods."

howard had little heart to go over the experiences of the afternoon. he simply told his friend that he and elwood had separated on their return, and he had been unable to find him again.

"what did you separate for?" asked the listener.

"because i was a fool; but o, tim, there is no use of regretting what has been done. if elwood is lost, i shall never leave this place."

after a while howard became more composed, and they conversed rationally upon the best plan for them to follow. tim o'rooney was strenuous in his belief that elwood had wandered off among the hills, and finding it growing dark, had sought some secure shelter for the night. he was sure that he would give vigorous signs of his whereabouts as soon as day dawned.

there was something in the daring nature of the boy that made it probable that tim was right. tempted out of his path by some singular or unexpected sight, he had wandered away until he found it too dark to return, and so had made the best of the matter and camped in some tree, or beneath the ledge of some projecting rock.

such was the theory of tim o'rooney, and so ingeniously did he enforce it that howard could not avoid its plausibility. none knew better than he the impulsive nature of the boy, and such an act upon his part would be in perfect keeping with similar exploits.

there was but one thing that raised a doubt in the mind of howard—and slight as was this, it was enough to give him sore uneasiness, and at times almost to destroy hope. at the time the boys separated, elwood had shown a great anxiety to reach tim, and proposed his plan in the belief that it would bring them together the more quickly.

this made it seem improbable to howard that he would have allowed anything to divert him from his course unless his personal safety caused him to do so; but tim said that if such were the case they would have heard his gun.

"do you s'pose he's the boy to lit a wild animal or any of them red gintlemen step up to him without his tachin' thim manners? but he's the youngster that wouldn't do the same. you'd hear that gun of his cracking away as long as there was any lift for him to crack."

"it may be as you think, tim, but i believe it is worse. suppose he is in the hands of some of these wandering bands of indians."

"s'pose he isn't."

"we have done that; but let us face the worst. if he has been taken away by them, what shall we do?"

"hunt him up."

"that is true, but how that is to be done is the difficulty. if we only had shasta with us."

"arrah, now, if ye'd had him ye'd've niver gone thramping off in the woods and having me alone here with the dog. the red gintleman knowed what was best for us, and do ye mind, he kept his eye upon yez all the time."

howard had thought the same thing a score of times since noon, and there was no need of his being told how the pah utah would have acted had he remained with them.

"i thinks mr. shasta isn't a great many miles off. p'rhaps," added tim, significantly, "he's kapin' watch upon us and will come to our help in our throuble."

but the contingency, to howard at least, was too remote for him to build any hopes upon it. it seemed more probable that the indian's friendship had led him much further out of the way than they had suspected, and that he was now many a long mile off, speeding toward home.

"he may find out that the youngster is wid 'em," added tim, "whin he will hasten to his relaaf."

"that seems the most likely."

"there's but one thing agin it."

"and what is that?"

but the irishman was silent. the boy repeated his question.

"it's bad—let it be."

but howard insisted.

"wal, you know, they may—wal—put him out the way."

"o tim!" groaned howard, "that cannot be, that cannot be!"

"i hopes not, but there's no telling what these sarpints may take into their heads to do. they're a bad set of craytures, always barring mr. shasta, and i'd've thought a good daal more of the same if he'd only staid a few days longer wid us."

"he thought we had enough sense to take care of ourselves, after he had seen us through the most dangerous part of our journey, otherwise he would have remained with us to the end. but, as i said a minute ago, it does no good for us to lament what cannot be helped. as soon as it is light we must go up among the hills with terror and make a hunt for elwood."

"yees spake the truth. the dog may be smarter than we is, and i'm thinkin' it wouldn't have to be very smart to be in that same fix, and we'll sarch till we finds out something about him."

"it is fortunate for poor elwood that the night is so mild and pleasant."

"fort'nit for ourselves, be the same towken; for without our fire we'd be rather cool when we slept, and the cold would keep us awake all night."

"but we have the blanket with us, and that would protect us at any time, no matter how cold it might be."

"yis," assented tim, with a great sigh. "if i only had me pipe under way i'd faal somewhat more comfortable, barring the worriment i faals at the absence of the youngster. may god watch over him through the darkniss!"

"amen!" was this reverent response of howard.