Then Henry said: "We must hunt for him, but we must not separate.

Whatever happens we three must stay together." "I'm not hankerin' to roam 'roun jest now all by myself," said the shiftless one, with an uneasy laugh.
The three hunted all that afternoon for Paul.

Once they saw trace of footsteps, apparently his, in some soft earth, but they were quickly, lost on hard ground, and after that there was nothing.

They stopped shortly before sunset at the edge of a narrow but deep creek.
"What do you think of it, Henry ?" asked Shif'less Sol.
"I don't know what to think," replied the youth, "but it seems to me that whatever took away Jim has taken away Paul, also." "Looks like it," said Sol, "an' I guess it follers that we're in the same kind o' danger." "We three of us could put up a good fight," said Henry, "and I propose that we don't go back to that camp, but spend the night here." "Yes, an' watch good," said Tom Ross.
Their new camp was made quickly in silence, merely the grass under the low boughs of a tree.

Their supper was a little venison, and then they watched the coming of the darkness.