Camping With Old Ben 245 



creeping through the woods. Somehow it 

 seemed mighty lonesome away from Ben al- 

 though I would not have admitted it for the 

 world. 



To my great astonishment I found that 

 camp did not lie just beyond some spruces as 

 I had thought, so I turned back to my start- 

 ing point and tried another direction, but that 

 seemed to lead me still deeper into the woods. 



This would never do, I must be more care- 

 ful, so I went back to a clump of birches that 

 I had just started from, to try it over again, 

 but to my dismay they were not the same 

 birches, but a new clump. 



How long and black the shadows were. 

 How still it was ; I must hurry. So I started 

 on a run in a new direction which I felt sure 

 would bring me to camp. 



As soon as I began running, my alarm, 

 which had not been great up to that point, 

 increased tenfold, and I ran hither and thither, 

 like a deer, taking almost no note of land- 

 marks, as Ben had taught me to do, but trying 

 to cover as many rods as possible in the short- 



