Long Jim had been gone nearly two hours, and he was long overdue.

His failure to reply to the signal indicated either that something ominous had happened or that--he had gone much farther than they meant for him to go.
The others had risen to their feet, also, and they stood a little while in silence.
"What do you think it means ?" asked Paul.
"It must be all right," said Shif'less Sol.

"Mebbe Jim has lost the camp." Henry shook his head.
"It isn't that," he said.

"Jim is too good a woodsman for such a mistake.

I don't want to look on the black side, boys, but I think something has happened to Jim." "Suppose you an' me go an' look for him," said Shif'less Sol, "while Paul and Tom stay here an' keep house." "We'd better do it," said Henry.