dare to leave it burning, for fear of setting fire to the forest.
Placing the deer on the pole as before, they set off toward the ridge
Shep had mentioned.

With the going down of the wind, the air seemed warmer. The sky was
still dull and heavy, and they were afraid it might snow again at any
moment. Where the footing was good they almost ran, so eager were they
to get back to Birch Tree Inn.

They had almost gained the shore of Firefly Lake when Whopper came to
a halt. At the same time a distant cry reached the ears of both young
hunters.

"What was that?" asked Whopper.

"Somebody calling for help, Whopper. Listen!"

"Help! help!" came faintly to their ears.

"Don't leave me, please! Help!"

"It's some person calling," said Shep. "But where is he?"

Both boys gazed around in perplexity. Then the cry was repeated, and
following the sound they made their way to some brushwood growing
between several trees. Here they found a man crouched before a tiny
fire. He was dressed in a tattered suit and an even more tattered
overcoat, and his shoes were bound up in potato sacking. A slouch hat
full of holes was drawn down over his forehead, and he looked to be
exactly what he was, a tramp.