"Beat 'em up!" yelled the man whom Dick had knocked down. "I know these young fellers! They put up a bad time for us this morning. Beat 'em up and make a good job of it, too." There was no use whatever in contending with such odds. Yet Dick and Dave fought with all their might, only to be borne to the ground, where they received severe punishment. CHAPTER IX DICK IMITATES A TAME INDIAN "Hello! hello!" yelled Tom Reade, pacing up and down the road with his lantern, holding his watch in the other hand. "Oh, Dick! Dave!" But up the road there sounded no answer. Looking utterly worried, Reade came back into camp. "I don't like the looks of this, fellows," he announced. "There's something wrong. Something has happened to one or both of the fellows. They left here before eight o'clock, and now it's twenty minutes of eleven. If everything had been all right, they'd have been back here by half-past nine o'clock at the latest." "Suppose we haul down the tent, pack the outfit and move on down the road, looking for some trace of them," proposed Greg. "No; that would delay the start too much," Tom replied, with a shake of his head. "Whoever goes out to hunt for Dick and Dave must move fast and not be tied to a horse and wagon. I'm going, for one. Who will go with me?" "I will," promptly answered Dan, Harry and Greg, all in one breath. "We'll have to leave one fellow to watch the camp," Reade answered, with a shake of his head. "Hazy, I'm afraid the lot will have to fall to you." "I'd rather go with you," Hazelton declared. "Of course you would," Tom assented. "But at least one good man must stay here and look after our outfit. So you stay, Harry, and Dan and Greg will go with me." "Going to take the lantern?" asked Greg, jumping up. "Yes," Tom nodded, "but we won't light it unless we need it. Just for finding our footing at some dark part of the road the electric flash light will do." Full of anxiety the trio set out on their search. But in the meantime, what of Dick and Dave? Theirs had been a busy evening. After the first rough pummeling, which left them breathless and sore, the tramp who had directed the rough work turned to his friends of the road. "These young gents have furnished us with some exercise," he grinned wickedly. "Now, suppose we make 'em supply us with a little amusement?" "It's risky, close to the road," returned one of the tramps who had been back in the shadows. "We don't know when someone will come along and butt in on our sport." "Two of our crowd can go out as scouts," replied the ringleader. "They'd better," nodded the adviser, "and even then we'd better take the cart, the old man and these young gents further back into the woods." Neither Dick nor Dave had said anything so far, for they were too sore, and too much exhausted. At the leader's command two men went down to the road, to watch in both directions.