'I can't,' Papa said.
The judge spoke up. 'Fellows, I think we'd better go in,' he said. 'There's no telling where they are. They may have crossed the river.'
Scared and knowing I had to do something, I said, 'They're closer than you think, probably treed by now. You can't hear them for this wind.' I begged, 'Let's go a little further.'
There was no reply and no one made a move to leave the shelter of the trees.
Taking a few steps, I said, 'I'll take the lead. Just follow me.'
'Billy, we couldn't find them,' Papa said. 'You can't see or hear a thing. We had better start back for camp.'
'I think so, too,' the judge said.
At this remark, I cried, 'I've been out in storms like this before, all by myself. I've never left my dogs in the woods, and I'm not going to now, even if I have to look for them by myself.'
No one answered.
'Please go just a little further,' I begged. 'I just know we'll hear them.'
Still no one spoke or made a move to go on.
Stepping over to my father, I buried my face in his old mackinaw coat. Sobbing, I pleaded with him not to turn back.
He patted my head. 'Billy,' he said, 'a man could freeze to death in this storm, and besides, your dogs will give up and come in.'
'That's what has me worried,' I cried. 'They won't come in. They won't, Papa. Little Ann might, but not Old Dan. He'd die before he'd leave a coon in a tree.'
Papa was undecided. Making up his mind, he stepped away from the tree and said to the others, 'I'm going on with him. You fellows coming, or going back?'
He turned and followed me. Grandpa and the judge fell in behind him.
By this time the ground was covered with a thin white layer of sleet. We kept slipping and falling. I could hear Grandpa mumbling and grumbling. The wind-driven sleet stung our skin like thousands of pricking needles. Strong gusts of wind growled and moaned through the tops of the tall timber.
Once during a momentary lull of the storm, I thought I heard the baying of a hound. I told my father I thought I had heard Old Dan.
'From which direction?' he asked.
'From that way,' I said, pointing to our left.
We started on. A few minutes later Papa stopped. He shouted to my grandfather, 'Did you hear anything?'
'No,' Grandpa shouted back. 'I can't hear anything in this storm.'
'I thought I did, but I'm not sure,' the judge said.
'Where was it coming from?' Papa asked.
'Over that way,' the judge said, pointing to our right.
'That's the way it sounded to me,' Papa said.
At that moment, all of us heard the deep voice of Old Dan.
'It sounds as if they're close,' Grandpa said.
'Let's split up,' said the judge. 'Maybe one of us can find them.'
