“Do you think anyone is in trouble?” inquired Grant anxiously of the guide.

“No,” replied Zeke.

“Do you think any one is in trouble?” inquired

“That’s more than I can tell.”

“Why don’t you call Pete?”

“No use.  Thomas Jefferson has answered the call and there isn’t anything more to be done except to wait until they get here, then we’ll see whether any one is missin’ or not.”

“Come on, fellows, let’s go down and see!” shouted Fred to his companions, who at once prepared to obey the suggestion.

“Here, stop that!” ordered Zeke sternly.  “You’re not goin’ to do anything of the kind.  We’ve got one boy lost now and that’s enough.  My dad used to tell me that one boy was a boy and two boys was half a boy.  I don’t know just how much four would be,” he added quizzically, as he glanced at his young companions.  “We’ve got troubles enough now.  Just hold your horses and wait, and we’ll soon find out what we all of us want to know.”

Striving to possess their souls in patience the Go Ahead Boys waited while the minutes slowly dragged on.  Again and again Fred impatiently shouted, but for some reason there was no further answering cry.  It might be that the little party had passed under some projecting shelf of rock which cut off all sounds from above.

Just as the sun set, however, to the great delight of the boys they discovered three men slowly climbing the side of the gulch almost directly below them.

Instantly the Go Ahead Boys cheered and shouted, although no replies were made to their hails.

From what they were able to see they concluded that not one of the three missing members of the party was disabled.  They were all toiling slowly up the sloping side, and it was soon manifest that every one was able to make the effort for himself.

Twenty minutes later John, Pete and Kitoni gained the place where their friends were awaiting their coming.

“You never had any one so glad to see you in all your life,” shouted Fred as he ran to John and tried to throw his arm around his neck.  As Fred was the “pigmy” of the party his efforts were ridiculous, but they nevertheless served to remove a part of the tension under which all were laboring.

“Are you all right, Jack?” demanded Grant.  “I am now,” replied the tall Go Ahead Boy somewhat ruefully.

“What happened to you?” asked Fred.

“I got lost too.  We waited for you to come back and when you didn’t come after a long time, I started out to look for you.  Pete told me not to do it, but of course I knew better than he did and nothing would do but I must try it.  It’s lucky I’m here, let me tell you.”

“Did you find your way back to the place where Pete left you?”

“I did not.  He found me.  Now then, what happened to you?  We didn’t know but that you might have fallen over some rim or been bitten by a rattlesnake or swallowed by a mountain lion.  The first thing we knew was when Kitoni came along and told us.”