It was 5 o’clock when they got back to Creston, searching on the way, and Pepper had not returned, or trace of him found.

“What shall we do next?” asked Jack, as they stood undecided in the road.

“What is it now?” asked Colonel Snow, who had come up unperceived.

“We can’t find Pepper,” answered the boys.

“What is it,” went on the colonel, “a game of hide and seek?”

“No, sir,” responded Rand; “he went over to Highpoint this morning with a message; I mean he started for Highpoint, but he hasn’t been there and he hasn’t come back.  We are afraid he is lost.”

“Lost!” exclaimed the colonel.  “How could that be.”

“We don’t know,” answered Jack; “but we have hunted all over for him, and he isn’t anywhere about.”

“All over?” said the colonel.  “He couldn’t very well be all over at once, could he?  But, come along, and we will see if we can’t find him.  Which way did he go?”

“On the upper road,” answered Rand; “but we have been all along that.”

“Well, we’ll see if we can’t pick up his trail,” went on the colonel at once, leading off at a rapid pace.  “Did any of you pick it up?”

“There are lots of tracks,” replied Rand, “but I did not pick his out.”

“Some who are expert, you know, can read tracks as readily as you read the paper.  These look much alike, but we will follow them up and see if any diverge or break away from the road.”

Walking rapidly along the road the colonel indicated one he thought might be Pepper’s track, which the boys followed, with some success, after it had been pointed out until, all at once, the marks indicated that the person had come to a sudden stop and had turned aside.

“He left the road here for some reason,” decided the colonel, “or the one who made the trail did.  He went through here, you can see how these bushes have been thrust aside.”

“I do now,” replied Rand, “but I wouldn’t have noticed it myself.”

“Did he have a dog with him?” continued the colonel, following the trail through the woods.

“No,” answered Rand.

“Probably the dog came from the other direction.  Looks as if Pepper was trying to get away from the dog.  They were both in a hurry.  It stops here; he must have taken to a tree.”

“Pepper!” he shouted, “where are you?”

But neither his calls nor those of the boys brought any response.

“He isn’t here,” went on the colonel; “but there has been a disturbance of some kind.  There are dog’s tracks all around as if the animal had struggled with something, but no footprints.  There is the track of a snake, too.”

“A snake!” cried Jack, in alarm.  “Do you think it could have bitten him?”

“No,” said the colonel, “if he had been bitten we would still have his trail.  He seems to have vanished into the air.”

“I don’t see how he could do that,” declared Don.