And I kept saying, "I'm lost! I'm lost!" Not until I
dropped exhausted against a pine-tree did any other thought come to me.
The moment that I stopped running about so aimlessly the panicky feeling
left me. I remembered that for a ranger to be lost in the forest was an
every-day affair, and the sooner I began that part of my education the
better. Then it came to me how foolish I had been to get alarmed, when I
knew that the general slope of the forest led down to the open country.
This put an entirely different light upon the matter. I still had some
fears that I might not soon find Dick Leslie, but these I dismissed for the
present, at least. A suitable place to camp for the night must be found. I
led the mustang down into the hollows, keeping my eye sharp for grass.
Presently I came to a place that was wet and soggy at the bottom, and,
following this up for quite a way, I found plenty of grass and a pool of
clear water.
Often as I had made camp back in the woods of Pennsylvania, the doing of it
now was new. For this was not play; it was the real thing, and it made the
old camping seem tame. I took the saddle off Hal and tied him with my
lasso, making as long a halter as possible. Slipping the pack from the pony
was an easier task than the getting it back again was likely to prove.
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