Teddy Martin was as brave as any boy of his age could be. But he was like nearly all other boys. When he heard or saw something about which he did not know he became alarmed.  
Perhaps if he had seen an elephant or a tiger really coming toward him in the woods, he might not have been half as frightened as he was at that strange cry from some unknown animal. For seeing a lion, a tiger, or an elephant lets you know at once what you have to expect. And it may be that by running, dodging² and hiding you can get away from the beasts.
 
“What is it that’s howling at me?” thought Ted¹.
 
He did not know, and there was none present to tell him.
 
That was the worst of it—not knowing what animal was trailing after him—stalking[172] him up in the trees, maybe—following him!
 
Teddy had stopped after calling out that he was there, thinking it was some person who had been sent to rescue him. But after a moment, when he knew that it was some animal, the boy prepared to run on again. Though where he would go in the darkness, and how he could save himself from the beast, he did not know.
 
“But I’m not going to stay here to be jumped on and clawed and bitten!” thought the Curlytop lad.
 
There flashed through his mind all the stories he had ever read or heard about wild beasts in the woods at night. For a few seconds Ted thought the worst—that it might be a lion or a tiger.
 
Then his better sense came to his aid.
 
“How silly I am!” he exclaimed to himself, as he started off again in the darkness. “Of course there aren’t any lions or tigers here. They live only in hot countries in the jungle. The only wild animals around here that might hurt me are bears, foxes and—bobcats!”
 
Teddy almost forgot about this last-named beast. But he had heard the lumbermen[173] talking about it only the other day. Bears, the wood-choppers had said, were very scarce and hard even for a hunter to find, so Ted knew he need not worry about them. He, himself, had seen a fox, and had noted⁵ how the brown creature with the big tail had so quickly run away.
 
“A fox won’t fight unless you corner him,” thought Teddy; “and I’m not going to corner this one! Besides, a fox doesn’t climb a tree, and this animal is up in the trees overhead.”
 
He knew this, because he had heard the branches rustling⁶ as the animal sent out its strange cry.
 
There was only one thing left that the beast could be.
 
“It’s a bobcat!” whispered Ted to himself.
 
And as he heard again the strange, wailing⁷ cry of the beast, he felt sure he had guessed right.
 
“They claw terrible, and bite!” thought Ted, with a shiver of fear, for he had heard the lumbermen talking about the bobcat, or lynx, which is another name for it. “But maybe it can’t find me,” thought the Curlytop boy hopefully.
 
[174]He wished that it was daylight, and then he wished that he had his electric pocket flash lamp with him, so that he might see which way to go. But he had to make the best of it, and so he slipped along as well as he could, gliding⁸ amid the trees and bushes of the dark forest.
 
He bumped into stumps⁹ and the trunks of trees. His feet became entangled¹⁰ in vines and, tripping, he fell. He stepped into mud puddles¹¹ of cold water. All in all, poor Ted was quite miserable¹².
 
Now and then he heard a rustling in the tree branches overhead, and he felt sure the bobcat was following him, waiting for a chance to drop down on him and bite or scratch.
 
“I’m going to yell!” decided¹³ Teddy. “Maybe that will scare that bobcat.”
 
And yell he did as loudly as he could. He not only wanted to scare away the bobcat, if one was really chasing him in the tree tops, but Ted also wanted to let those who might be searching for him, know where he was.
 
Again and again Ted cried, sending his ringing voice out in the darkness of the forest.
 
[175]Had those who were searching for him only been near enough they would surely have heard him and come to his rescue. There were two rescue parties out, as I have told you. Mr. Martin led one and Tod Everett, the foreman of the lumber⁴ gang, led the other.
 
Mrs. Martin remained at home in the bungalow¹⁴ with Janet, Trouble and Lucy. They were much frightened and worried, and more than once Janet would listen for any sound outside the cabin and then she would ask:
 
“Do you think they’ll find Teddy, Mother?”
 
“Of course they will,” would be the answer.
 
“When?” Janet would ask.
 
“Oh, soon now,” Mrs. Martin would reply. But as the hours passed and the rescuers did not come back with the missing little boy, Mrs. Martin became more and more worried, though she did not say so.
 
“Po’ honey lamb!” mused¹⁵ Lucy, as she rocked Trouble to and fro to keep him asleep, for he was restless. “I done wisht he’d come!”
 
“So do I,” murmured Janet. And then[176] her mother said she had better go to bed and rest.
 
“But I’ll not sleep,” Janet answered. “I’m going to stay awake all night—or until Teddy comes home.”
 
However, even worry about her beloved brother could not long keep Janet awake, and soon her eyes were closed, as were Trouble’s. Then Mrs. Martin and Lucy sat up, listening and hoping.
 
Mr. Martin had been very sure he or the other searchers would soon find Teddy. He thought the boy had merely taken the wrong path through the woods and was wandering about, not far from the bungalow.
 
But the truth of it was that Teddy had gone farther than even he realized, and much farther than his father thought a small boy could walk in the time he was gone.
 
“Another thing that’s against us,” said one of the lumbermen, “is that it’s so dark. There’s any number of little hollows and ravines that the boy could be in and we’d miss him even in daylight. And after dark it’s harder yet.”
 
“I know it is,” said Mr. Martin. “But I think he’ll hear us shouting and answer[177] us. B............