Then came a shout that thrilled them: 

“Ahoy, there, Frank!”

“It’s Jerry!” cried Bluff, ready to throw his hat into the air.

Frank himself was tremendously relieved.  No matter what had happened, their chum was alive, and could call to them.

“Hello!  What’s the matter?  Where are you?” he shouted, for the voice of Jerry had come from a little distance away, and seemed strangely muffled.

“Straight into the woods from the shack!” came back the reply.

“We’re coming to you!” called Frank, still puzzled to know what it all meant.

“I wonder what he has dropped into now?” speculated Bluff as he trotted along at the heels of his leader.

“Sounds as if he wanted us to come to him, all right.  Keep your gun ready, Bluff, for there’s no telling but what you may need it,” Frank went on.

“It’s in apple-pie shape for business at the old stand.  Jerry laughs at it, but before now he’s found that it could help a fellow out of a hole.  Suppose you try him again?”

Bluff’s suggestion was a good one, and Frank raised his voice in a shout.  This time the answer came from a point closer at hand.  Still, although they were peering eagerly through the dense foliage, they could see nothing out of the way.

“This beats the Dutch!  Where under the sun can the fellow be?” said Bluff, after they had gone still further.

“What’s that?” asked Frank suddenly, pointing.

“I declare if it doesn’t look some like a dead deer, a little fellow, too; perhaps a fawn,” came from Bluff as he hurried forward.

“No, it’s a full-grown deer, all right, and just killed, too.  They run very small down here, you know.  But that doesn’t tell us where our chum is, even if he shot the game, and had to fire three times in order to down it,” declared Frank.

“As sure as you live, here’s his gun!” cried Bluff.

Frank stared at the rifle, that lay at the foot of a particularly big live-oak, parts of which seemed to be rotting away, as there were dead limbs strewing the ground underneath it.  Then he cast his eyes upward, as if under the impression that he might discover Jerry perched upon a limb, laughing at them.

“He isn’t up there.  I’ve examined every limb on the old tree.  What under the sun do you suppose could have happened to him?” ejaculated Bluff.

“Hark!” said Frank, holding up his hand.

“He’s laughing at us!  I tell you that was Jerry’s chuckle, for all the world!  Now, what tomfoolery is he up to, do you suppose?  Bringing us ashore through all that beastly water just to have a shy at us!  Hi, Jerry, you old joker!  Show up!” cried Bluff indignantly.

The only answer was a second laugh, louder than the first.

“I declare he’s up in that blessed tree, after all, and yet for the life of me I can’t get a squint at him.  Serve the old chap right if we went and took the dinghy back, leaving him to wade,” grumbled Bluff.