Bob realized that he was in a bad fix but it was not until darkness came that the thought occurred to him that he might not get out of the scrape alive. He had been in tight places before but never had he felt so helpless and alone. To make matters worse a of mosquitoes began to him and he was kept busy slapping first one place and then another.  
His ankle no longer pained him but instead felt as though it had gone to sleep. He uttered a short but prayer that God would send him help before it was too late and then feeling more calm he tried to sleep. But it was of no use. The mosquitoes him so that sleep was out of the question. How dark it was. There was no moon and he was unable to see his hand held before his eyes.
 
“They say that everything has some use,” he thought. “But blest if I can see why mosquitoes were ever made.”
 
He had a few matches in his pocket and from time to time he lit one to see if his leg was still bleeding. It grew no worse in this respect and after a time he believed that it had stopped altogether.
 
“If only I could build a fire,” he thought, “the smoke would drive these mosquitoes away.”
 
But there was nothing within his reach to serve the purpose and he had to abandon the idea. He thought it must be nearly twelve o’clock when a glance at the face of his watch told him that it was only a few minutes past nine.
 
“Morning will never come at this rate,” he thought. “Oh, if these mosquitoes would only let me alone. Then I could sleep.”
 
Another hour passed and to the boy it seemed almost endless. He was so that he could hardly keep his eyes open when he tried to but yet he could not sleep. Once he fancied that he did drop off but a glance at his watch told him that only two minutes had passed since he had looked at it before.
 
“It’ll be a wonder if my hair isn’t white before morning,” he thought.
 
Just at that moment his heart gave a great leap. A faint but unmistakable buzzing reached his ears.
 
“The radio!” he thought. “Why in the world didn’t I think of it before.” In an instant he had the instrument out of his pocket.
 
“Hello,” he almost shouted into it.
 
“That you, Bob?”
 
Never, he thought had a voice sounded so sweet. “Yes, it’s what there is left of me.”
 
“Did they get you?” ’s voice was filled with anxiety.
 
“They didn’t but it did.”
 
“What’s it?”
 
“A bear trap.”
 
For a moment the phone was silent and Bob feared that something had happened to it. Then Jack’s voice came again.
 
“Do you mean that you are caught in a bear trap?”
 
“You guessed it.”
 
“But how in the world did it happen?”
 
“I imagine I must have stepped on it,” Bob answered dryly.
 
“I know that,” Jack’s voice came back impatiently. “I didn’t suppose that you climbed up in a tree and stuck your foot in it. What I mean is didn’t you see it?”
 
“I think not. If I had I doubt if I would have stepped in it.”
 
“Oh, Bob, I don’t mean to talk like an idiot but honest I’m so scared that I don’t know what I am saying I guess. Now tell me where you are and if you’re badly hurt.”
 
“No, I don’t think I’m very badly hurt. Of course the trap has got a pretty good hold on my leg but it doesn’t pain me so badly now. In fact I can hardly feel it at all. As to where I am I don’t know of course. I fancy I’m eighteen or twenty miles from where you are and I came directly west. I know I’m not far from the line, but don’t know just how far.”
 
“All right. You just sit tight and I’ll be there before you know it.”
 
“Steady son, you couldn’t find me in this darkness to save your soul. You’d only get lost. No, the best way will be to wait till daylight. It’ll only be a few hours now and I can stand it. Remember you can get no sense of direction in these phones so I couldn’t guide you till you got near enough to hear me without the phones.”
 
“I suppose you’re right as usual, but Bob, I’m scared stiff.”
 
“You needn’t be. I’m all right and if it wasn’t for these pesky mosquitoes I could go to sleep. Now you hit the hay and get some rest. You’ll likely have some hunt before you find me tomorrow and you’ll need all your strength.”
 
“But why didn’t you call me on your phone? I’ve been trying to get you ever since it began to get dark but I just discovered a loose connection on my and I guess the thing didn’t work till just now.”
 
“To tell the truth,” Bob replied, “I never once thought of it. Funny wasn’t it? But now you get to sleep.”
 
At first Jack protested that it would be impossible for him to get to sleep, but after Bob had again assured him that he would be all right and that the best way in which he could help him right then was to sleep so as to be fresh for his hunt on the morrow, he consented to try and they bade each other good night.
 
Bob, much cheered by the conversation with his brother, now accepted the situation .
 
“Well,” he thought, “I little dreamed while we were working on these phones that they would so soon be the means of saving my life. It’s a lucky thing for me that we made them.”
 
Hope made the time pass more quickly than it had before Jack called, but, nevertheless it seemed as though several nights had had time to go by before his watch told him that it was three o’clock. He was badly bitten by mosquitoes in spite of his efforts to keep them off, and his leg was beginning to pain him again.
 
“Too bad I didn’t bring along a flash light,” he thought as he struck his next to the last match to see if the leg was bleeding.
 
He did not think that it was but was quite sure that it was pretty badly.
 
“Guess that’s what’s making it ache,” he thought, “But it’ll be light in less than an hour and Jack’ll be starting. Pray God he finds me quickly.”
 
A few minutes later a light breeze sprang up and as it increased in strength the mosquitoes vanished. With a sigh of relief Bob sank back and was almost instantly asleep despite the pain which was now manifesting itself in his leg.
 
He could have slept but a short time for it was still dark when he awoke conscious of a sound in the woods a short distance behind him. He listened and in a moment he heard it again. Some heavy animal was making its way slowly through the woods.
 
“That’s either a moose or a bear,” he thought. “Hope he don’t take a notion to come this way. I’m not exactly in a position to put up much of a fight.”
 
The animal was evidently in no hurry and for some minutes the boy was uncertain whether it was coming in his direction or not. But the did not last long for soon a snapping of dead branches close at hand told him only too plainly that the animal was coming directly toward him. And a minute later all doubt regarding the identity of the visitor was by a low .
 
“It’s a bear sure as smoke,” he told himself as he twisted around and managed to draw his automatic. “Now if I only had a flash light.”
 
By this time bruin was only a few feet away as Bob could tell by the which came almost continually.
 
“He knows there’s something here but is not sure just what it is, and is wondering what he had better do,” Bob thought as he waited. “Hope he decides to let well enough alone and go on about his own business.”
 
His gun was a forty-five easily capable of a bear with a single shot provided that shot landed in the right place. But to hit that place in the intense darkness was he knew a thousand to one shot. Unless very hungry or with a bear will rarely attack a man and knowing this Bob hoped that the bear would let him alone. But fear sprang to his heart when, a moment later, he heard the low of a small .
 
“She’ll get me if I don’t get her at the first shot,” he thought gripping his revolver. “And it’ll be in a minute, too,” he muttered as he heard the bear now but a few feet away. “Oh, for a bit of light!”
 
He waited until he knew that the bear was almost near enough for him to touch with his hand and was about to pull the trigger and trust to luck when something hit him a blow on the side of the head and he felt himself falling through what seemed miles of space then came oblivion.
 
Day was just breaking when Jack awoke. It had been long after he wrapped himself in his blanket before sleep came. He knew Bob’s for putting the best foot forward and he feared that he was much worse off than he had let on. He sprang to his feet as soon as he could throw off his blanket and the first thought which entered his mind was the radio. Eagerly he began to call but there was no response. Hastily but he looked the over to be sure that it was in order and when he could find nothing amiss he tried again.
 
But as before he could get no reply.
 
“Mebby he’s asleep,” he thought, and then his heart almost stopped beating as the possibility of his brother being dead entered his mind.
 
As quickly as possible, not stopping to eat, he rolled his pack and throwing both it and Bob’s over his shoulder, he started at almost a run.
 
For a time he had little trouble in being certain that he was on the right track as, in the thinly wooded section, it was easy to locate the boundary stones and he remembered that Bob had told him that he was not far from the border line. Several times during the first two hours he stopped long enough to try the radio but each time he met with disappointment. And each time also he became more frightened. Surely Bob must be awake by this time and why did he not answer? The boy refused to permit an answer to enter his mind. Bob could not be dead. He would not have it so.
 
As he entered the more thickly wooded district he was forced to go slower. Several times he had to hunt for what seemed an almost endless time before he could locate the marking stone and he dared not proceed until he had found it for fear of missing Bob altogether.
 
“He can’t be a great way off now,” he thought as he glanced at his watch and saw that it was nearly ten o’clock.
 
He had just spent nearly a half hour hunting before he located the last stone and he was almost sure that he had come nearly if not quite twenty miles. For the hundredth time he gave to the call of the whip-poor-will giving it the accent which he knew Bob would recognize.
 
“Why don’t he answer?” he moaned.
 
All at once he realized that he had eaten nothing since the night before and more because he knew how necessary it was that he should maintain his strength than th............