The two boys walked slowly across the valley. Then suddenly Fred stopped and sat down on a large stone. “It’s no use,” he said. “I can’t go any further. I’m absolutely exhausted.”
George looked at him for a minute. “Oh, come on!” he said. “it’s not very far now. Only five or six miles at the most.”
“Yes, but it’s uphill most of the way,” Fred said. He pointed to the path in front of them. It went straight up the side of the valley. George sat down too. For a while the two boys said nothing. Then Fred pointed to some trees about half a mile ahead.
“There’s a hut among those trees,” he said. “Perhaps we can spend the night there.”
“I’ll go and take a look,” George said. He ran down the path towards the hut and vanished among the trees. Fred followed more slowly.
“What’s it like inside?” he asked when he reached the hut.
“Not bad,” George called back. “It feels a little damp, but there’s some wood in one corner, so we can light a fire.”
The two boys cleaned out the hut and lit a fire. Then they had supper. They were both tired and they did not talk much. Before they went to bed, they put plenty of wood on the fire. George fell asleep almost at once, but Fred lay awake for a long time, watching the flames. Then he too fell asleep.
Suddenly he was awake again. The fire was nearly out. He could hear noises outside. It sounded like voices. He woke up George.
“It’s only the wind,” he grumbled. “Go to sleep again.”
But it wasn’t the wind. The voices came nearer until they were just outside the hut. The door opened and a light shone in their faces. “They’re here! “ a voice called out. A policeman was standing in the doorway. He addressed the two boys. “You’ve given us a lot of trouble,” he said. “We’ve looked all over the valley for you two!”

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