t worries me," muttered Clay. "I believe
I'd sooner carry a feather bed. The crazy thing jerks when I stick it
under one arm, and if I hug it to my breast it hits me on the chin every
few seconds. It's so heavy that the cords cut my hand if I try to carry
it that way. I wish I could balance it on my head."

Clay did not exaggerate the perverse and obstinate nature of that hat
box. It changed bearers no less than six times before the mendacious
signpost was reached, and then its victims were so exhausted that they
had to lie down on the grass and rest.

CHAPTER XI

SEARCHING FOR THE CAMP

It was already past three o'clock when the boys resumed their tramp,
abandoning the road and heading across country along the same course by
which they had come.

For the first two or three miles they did not pay any special attention
to the scenery around them; they were kept busy climbing fences and
hills, and taking care of the refractory cake box, which became more and
more of a burden every moment. Finally as they were descending a long
wooded slope, Ned was amazed to discover that the mountains, instead of
being straight ahead, lay off to the right.

"That's a funny mistake," he said. "I wonder how long we have been
moving parallel with the creek instead of toward it? Some of those snaky
ravines we passed through must have turned us around without our knowing
it."

"I hope we haven't lost the path," returned Clay. "Nothing about here
looks familiar to me, but then I didn't pay much attention to the
scenery this morning."

"Neither did I," replied Ned uneasily, "and I'm afraid that's just where
we made a big mistake. If we had only noted some landmarks as we came
along, we would not be in this fix now. It really is a pretty serious
fix, Clay. You see we can't tell how long we have been traveling in this
wrong direction. The only thing we can do now is to head straight for
the mountains, and run the chances of striking the creek in the vicinity
of the camp."

"That's true," assented Clay. "I hope we'll reach it before dark. Randy
and Nugget will be pretty badly scared if we don't."

They started off again, headed this time in the proper direction. Of
course the mountains were visible only at rare intervals, and this added
to the perplexity of the situation, since it is very difficult to keep
on a straight line unless some guiding point is constantly in view.

It was soon evident that the boys were far astray fr