about following in their wake.

If Steve had faithfully carried out the directions given him, Max knew
that he certainly must have reached this same road, and possibly not
far from the point at which they too struck it. As he walked along Max
was keeping a bright lookout for certain signs which he had arranged
Steve should leave on the right-hand side of the hill road to tell them
he had been there.

These he discovered inside of ten minutes after they started to travel
along the highway, which was in fair condition considering the bad
weather. A branch had been partly broken, and as it lay seemed to
point ahead. When a short distance beyond they came upon the same
thing repeated, there no longer remained the slightest doubt but what
it was the work of their absent chum.

Max explained all these things to the girls, partly to cheer them up;
and then again because he knew Bessie would be interested in everything
that Steve did.

After that they all watched the road at every bend, and hope kept
surging up in their hearts as they fancied they heard the distant sound
of wheels. What if disappointments came many times, they knew that
Steve must be ahead somewhere, and would exhaust every device in the
endeavor to accomplish the more important part of his duty.

Just about an hour afterwards they all caught the unmistakable sound of
wheels, and then came a well known voice calling to the horses to "get
busy"; after which a big hay-rick turned the bend a little way ahead,
with Steve wielding the whip, and a boy perched on the seat alongside
him, possibly to bring back the rig after they were through with it.

Loud were the cheers that went up, and no one shouted with more vim
than Shack Beggs, who seemed to have gradually come to believe that
from this time on there was no longer going to be anything in the shape
of a gulf between him and Max, as well as the other chums. He had been
through peril in their company, and there is nothing in the wide world
that draws people closer together than sharing common dangers.

So the hay-rick was turned around, and the girls made as comfortable as
could be done. The boys managed to perch almost anywhere, and were as
merry as though they had not a care or a worry in the world.

"Can we make Carson in a day?" Bessie demanded, when the two horses
toiled slowly up a rather steep hill.

"I think we will," Max assured her; "if we're lucky, and don't get
stalled by some washed-ou