CHAPTER 2 THE FACE ON THE CLIFF

The Cubs bunched together, waiting for orders. Red's plight, they knew, easily might be a serious one. If he foolishly had wandered deep into the woods, it might be necessary to organize searching parties in order to find him.

"Mr. Holloway, Dan, Brad and I will try to pick up his trail," the cubmaster said quietly. "The rest of you go to the house and wait there."

Dan and Brad followed Mr. Holloway and the cubmaster to the fringe of woods, leaving the other Cubs to make their way up the hill. Mr. Hatfield took an optimistic view of the disappearance.

"Red has good sense," he said. "Furthermore, unless he's forgotten Cub training, he'll eventually find his way back to camp or to the road. The worst is, if he doesn't show up shortly, his parents will be scared."

Ahead, the cool forest loomed dark and rather terrifying. By day, the trails wound pleasantly through the preserve, skirting ravines and crossing rustic bridges. But now, the entire area had a forbidding appearance.

"We all must stay close together," Mr. Hatfield instructed. "Now Dan, show us where it was that you last saw Red."

Dan already had identified the spot, a narrow gap through two tall birch trees. He had noted the place, for the white trunks had stood out distinctly in the starlight.

After he had pointed it out, Mr. Hatfield went ahead, flashing the bright beam of his flashlight on the ground.

"Red came this way, all right," he declared, elated at having picked up the trail so easily. "See! Here's a deep heel mark in the mud."

"What could have induced him to wander off?" Mr. Holloway speculated. "I thought Red knew better. He evidently had no intention of gathering wood because he pa.s.sed up plenty of it at the edge of the woods."

In the dark forest, it became increasingly difficult to follow Red's trail. After moving deeper into the trees, the party halted to listen for a moment and then to shout Red's name.

"He's wandered a long distance away, that's sure," the cubmaster said.

"Perhaps to the ravine. Our voices might not carry to him there."

"But why would Red go that far?" Brad asked himself aloud. "I can't understand it. He only intended to play a little joke on the Cubs."

Mr. Hatfield, in advance of the others, halted so abruptly that Brad b.u.mped into him.

"h.e.l.lo, here's something!" the cubmaster exclaimed.

He stooped to pick up a paper sack lying in plain view on a log.

"That's the one Red had!" Brad cried, instantly recognizing it.

Inside the sack, Mr. Hatfield found a neatly folded bearskin rug.

"Red intended to play a joke on the Cubs all right," he commented. "But something caused him to change his mind."

"For some reason he decided to go deeper into the woods," Mr. Holloway added thoughtfully. "Evidently, he wanted to travel fast, so he pitched this bulky sack. He left it on the log, where he could find it easily on his way back."

More than ever mystified by the boy's strange disappearance, the four now hastened on. Soon however, Mr. Hatfield reported that he no longer could find any shoeprints on the trail.

"Red must have turned off somewhere," he told the others. "That will make it a lot harder to find him."

The four paused, discouraged by the realization that it might take hours to learn what had become of the missing boy. A cool wind whispered through the pines, causing Dan to pull his sweater more tightly about him. Red, he recalled, had worn no jacket. Unless they found him soon, he might actually suffer from cold.

"Listen!" commanded Brad suddenly. "I thought I heard something!"

The four stood perfectly still, listening. Overhead an owl hooted, but there was no other unusual sound.

"I was certain I heard something," Brad muttered, ashamed to have aroused false hope. "It sounded like someone running. Guess I imagined it."

"We'll have to go back a ways and try to pick up Red's trail again," Mr.

Hatfield said. "I only hope my flashlight holds out."

The searchers turned around, but scarcely had they gone a dozen yards, than Brad exclaimed:

"There! I heard it again! Someone _is_ running through the underbrush!"

The other three had halted to listen.

"You're right, Brad!" exclaimed Mr. Hatfield. "It must be Red!"

Their hope revived, the four shouted the missing boy's name repeatedly.

To their intense relief, an answering shout came from the left of the trail.

"That's Red!" cried Brad.

"He's over by the ravine, just as I thought!" added Mr. Hatfield. "Keep shouting, so he can find us. We'll wait here on the trail."

Five minutes later, Red struggled through the bushes and brambles to confront his would-be rescuers with a sheepish grin.

He was breathing heavily, having hastened as fast as he could.

"Gosh, were you out looking for me?" he asked, sagging down on a log to rest.

"Were we looking for you!" Brad exclaimed furiously. "You and your crazy jokes!"

"I intended to come right back-honest I did. But gosh, I had the scare of my life! I'm still shakey from the shock of it."

"You didn't meet a live bear?" Dan asked.

Red shook his head and took a deep breath. "I-I saw a fire through the trees," he informed his listeners.

"A fire?" Mr. Holloway repeated. "In the forest? That could be serious if it spread. So many cabins and cottages are situated near the park preserve. Fires aren't permitted at night, and in daytime only with written permission of the warden."

"That's why I started off to find out about it," Red said quickly. "I thought if anyone had left a fire unwatched, the Cubs ought to know about it."

"Where did you see the fires?" Mr. Hatfield cut in. "Near the ravine?"

"Yes, but it wasn't unattended. When I got there-oh, gee!-it scared me half out of my wits. I was afraid to go very close."

"Get to the point, Red," Mr. Holloway urged impatiently. "What did you see?"

"A fire had been built on a shelf of the ravine. It was blazing up high against the rocks, making the whole cliff wall illuminated. A man, who was wrapped in a blanket, sat there. His back was to me so I didn't see his face."