"Sure," remarked the trapper, when they found themselves out of sight of the river, and surrounded by the primeval forest, "we must be afther kapin' clost enough till each ither to hear a signal whistle. If wees do be afther catchin' that same, it wull mane to come tegither as quickly as yees can. But only a cooie stands for 'all's well, kape on a-huntin' right along wid yees, an' may the bist man win.'" When they divided their forces, so as to cover more territory, Pat was wise enough to station himself midway between the brothers. Here he could keep in touch with either Sandy or Bob, a different sort of call meaning that he wanted a response from the one it designated, and about whom he might be getting a trifle anxious. Pat had hunted many a time with such old frontiersmen as Jo Davies, John Hardin and Silas Hardin. He knew pretty much all there was to be learned about the ways of the cunning woods folks, from the little mink up to the great buffalo that, if angered or wounded, would come charging full at the hunter, ready to use his wicked short horns in hurling him many feet into the air, or grinding him into the earth, if he were so unlucky as to be caught napping. No small game would do for them now. Birds might flush from the thickets and offer splendid pot shots; but they had agreed not to think of taking advantage of anything in the feathered line short of a big wild turkey. And, with so many mouths to feed, Sandy was more inclined to wish they might rout a buffalo out of some thicket, than anything else. They advanced for some time, without seeing anything that offered a chance for a shot, and Sandy, of course, always impatient, began to think they might, after all, be compelled to return to the boat without any fresh meat, which would be a great pity, since every one yearned so for a feast. The afternoon was now waning, and they found themselves some distance away from the place where the camp had been made. About this time Pat called the boys to him for a little consultation. He believed that, by altering their course, so as to come upon the river about two miles below the spot where their friends were tied up, the prospects for game would be vastly improved, because the country looked better to his eyes in that quarter. So the change in direction was made. Bob was just as well satisfied, because he did not much like the idea of keeping on heading deeper and deeper into the great hills that lay back from the river, and which doubtless held more than one village of the hostile red men.