CHAPTER V.
ON THE TRAIL.
In this manner they left the dusty road behind them, and entered amongthe bushes and growth of scrubby trees that bordered it.
The three Eagles who came just after the stalwart police officers keptin a bunch; not that any of them felt afraid in the least; but as theywere unarmed, save for the various clubs they had managed to pick up onthe way, they seemed to think there might be safety in numbers.
Besides, if at any time they felt in a communicative mood, it waspossible to put their heads together and pass whispers along.
Rob, in the lead, was bending over and bringing that little hand torchinto play in great style. Nothing could have been finer for the purpose,he quickly concluded, and made up his mind on the spot that he would ownsuch a handy article at the very first opportunity.
The steady white glow allowed him to see the ground so plainly that hecould readily distinguish every little mark made by the feet of thefleeing men. On the whole, Rob would have called that job something of asnap; for neither of the fugitives seemed to have once thought of such athing as "blinding their trail"; such as clever scouts generally do whenplaying "fox and geese," or some game of that sort.
In fact, the taller fellow, the one who limped so badly, had actuallydragged his injured leg after him; and in this way he managed to leave abroad track that Rob believed even a tender-foot might follow withease.
Still there were places where the ground was hard, being made for themost part of rock; and here the tracker was compelled to be more carefulin order that he might not be thrown off the trail by accident and haveall sorts of trouble finding it again.
"Say, keep your eye on Rob, fellers," Tubby whispered, when he was sowound up that he just could not keep quiet any longer. "Isn't he showingthe Chief a few wrinkles about following a set of tracks, though?"
"Not so loud, Tubby," cautioned Merritt, who, as the second in commandof the Eagle Patrol, had a certain amount of authority invested in himthat the rest of the scouts always recognized, particularly when Rob wasnot on duty or absent.
"But he is trailing along like a regular old fox, isn't he?" persistedTubby, who was hard to repress when he felt the spirit move within him.
"Course he is," muttered Andy; "and this isn't the first time Rob hasmade grown men sit up and take notice. But there, he's hit a snarl ofsome kind!"
"Well, you take my word for it, Rob will unravel it in double-quickorder!" the stout boy assured him.
"Silence!" hissed Merritt; and this time he apparently "squelched"Tubby, for the latter had nothing more to say just then; but as he hadfreed his mind, that was a matter of small consequence.
Rob was skirmishing around as though he might have lost the trail owingto the hardness of the ground. He had held up a hand in order to warnthe three officers not to stumble over him, and then with his torch heldlow, proceeded to examine his surroundings.
They saw him rise up and flash his light to the right, then to theleft, and finally straight ahead. Apparently he was making up his mindfrom the conformation of things which way the two fleeing men might havechosen as they pushed forward in the semi-darkness. In other words, Robwas applying an old principle, trying to "put himself in their place" sothat he could decide what their natural action under the circumstanceswould have been.
He seemed to settle quickly which way had looked the most promising tothe anxious eyes of two sorely pressed fellows, one of whom could hardlydrag himself along, for he immediately turned toward the left, and againflashed his torch on the ground.
Almost immediately afterward the three scouts in the rear caught a queerlittle sound, not unlike the faint squawk of an eaglet in its nest atfeeding time.
"There, did you hear that, fellers?" demanded Tubby excitedly, though hedid manage to keep his voice whittled down to a hoarse whisper.
"It was Rob giving us the sign of the Eagles that told he had found whathe was looking for; sure it was!" observed Andy.
"That's all right, but you boys let up on your talking. Understand?"was the warning given by the corporal.
Apparently the boy in the lead must have given the three officers somesort of signal with his disengaged hand, for as he moved off theystarted after him, doubtless with renewed confidence in his ability tolead them. If either of those men who accompanied the Chief on thismission had been inclined to scoff at the usefulness of the education ofa Boy Scout, he must have had an object lesson then and there that hewould not soon forget.
Later on every one of them candidly admitted that without the aid of Robthey would never have been able to follow the trail of the fleeingrascals for five rods, not having been taught how to read signs, as areall scouts who deserve the name.
After that Rob did not seem to run up against any more snags, for hekept moving steadily along, now turning to one side, and then to theother, just as the parties he tracked had chanced to move in order toavoid some fallen tree, a stump, or a thick clump of thorny bushes thatbarred their path.
It was splendid work, and the trio of boys who kept tabs on what theirpatrol leader was doing, felt a genuine thrill of admiration for Rob'sskill. Once again were the Eagles proving their worth in an emergency;and after this Hampton folks would have still more reason to feel proudof the patrol and the troop.
"Listen!" said Andy suddenly, "what is that I hear?"
His two companions halted for a brief period of time, because apparentlythey had not as yet chanced to catch the sound that disturbed Andy.
"Seems like running water to me," ventured Tubby, as if in more or lessdoubt.
"It is running water," affirmed Merritt quickly; "a little stream ofsome kind, I guess. Seems to me I remember one that trails through thispatch of scrub oak timber."
"Well, we're heading straight for it," remarked Andy; "and like as notthe two men wanted to get a drink right bad. They ran so hard they feltdry enough to drain a spring-hole at one turn."
"Sh! You see Rob's heading that way; let's move on!" Merritt told them.
It turned out just as they figured. The run-aways had indeed gonestraight for the little streamlet that gurgled through the underbrush;and Rob showed by means of his light just where they had both knelt downalongside the creek to drink.
Just as the other three scouts came up, they heard Rob give a littleexclamation that seemed to have in it something like pity.
"What have you found now, son?" asked the big Chief, understanding fromthe manner in which the clever scout had given this cry that he musthave made a new discovery.
"I reckon that poor wretch got a worse broken leg than any one hasthought up to now, Chief," Rob remarked with a long breath, as heriveted the light of his little torch upon one certain spot of ground.
"How d'ye make that out, Rob?" asked Tubby before any one else couldspeak; for slow in his movements though the fat youth might often seemno one was more ready to interject a word than Tubby.
"Here is where both of them knelt down so they could bend forward anddrink," replied the obliging patrol leader, always ready to post hiscomrades on these little points that would add to their scouteducation.
"Yep, we can see the marks easy," Andy assured the other.
"Here is where the shorter one got down, because you can see thedistance between the marks of his knees and the toes of his shoesdoesn't measure nearly as much as this other does. And looking closeryou'll see that the tall man wasn't able to double up his left leg as hewanted to."
"That was the one they said he had hurt," remarked the Chief,undoubtedly deeply interested in all that the boy was saying.
"Now, if you look here at the place where his left foot dug into thesoil when he lay down to drink, you'll find a stain that tells a storyof its own!" Rob went on to say, as he held the torch still lower, sothat all could see.
"Jiminy crickets!" exclaimed Tubby, in an awed tone. "Why, it's a bloodmark, fellers; sure it is!"
"Yes," added the Chief, "that's right, son. He hurt his leg worse thananybody cou
ld have known about. That Con has got plenty of nerve to keepgoing all this time with such a bad wound! He certainly wanted to escapea term at the pen, all right."
"I think he couldn't drag himself much further, Chief; and we'll be aptto run across him soon, even if the other man gets away," Rob observed;and so much confidence had the big officer learned to put in what thepatrol leader of the Eagles said, that he nodded his head and simplyremarked:
"That's good news, Rob; let's get a move on again, and close in on ourbirds!"
"Are they armed, do you know, Chief?" asked Merritt; for he had beenwondering what sort of reception they would receive when they finallyclosed in on the fugitives, who were reckoned desperate men.
"Not so far as is known," replied the other. "I was particular to askthat, for I knew I'd have to shape my plans accordingly. It seems thatthey raided an old scare-crow that had been left in a field, and managedto change clothes with the dummy after a fashion, for they wanted topose as tramps, you see. But armed or not, we are ready to settleaccounts with the rascals. We're close at your heels, Rob; make all thetime you want."
Rob was not having any difficulty whatever in following the trail afterthe two fugitives had left the little streamlet. He seemed to be askeen on the scent as a rabbit hound, only he went about his worknoiselessly, and not with the idea of giving tongue, such as a beagleusually shows.
"We're getting on a warm track, Chief," the boy with the torch suddenlyremarked, "because just then I saw a little twig right itself under myvery eyes, showing it must have been stepped on only a few minutesbefore. Hello! here's only one set of tracks! The man with the brokenleg has drawn out!"
"But where could he have gone?" asked Tubby. "He didn't have wings, didhe? And no aeroplane could dodge down in all this brush to carry himoff. If he isn't on the ground, where d'ye reckon he can be, Rob?"
For answer the patrol leader gave one good look at the place where thetrail of the man who dragged his left leg after him seemed to stop.
Then he quickly focused the white glow of his electric torch up into thetree directly over-head.
"Oh! looky there, would you, in the fork of the tree!" exclaimed Tubby,always bent on expressing his opinion.
And as the others cast their eyes upward, they saw the huddled figure ofa man where Tubby had indicated. Rob had undoubtedly run one of thefugitives down; and hearing them coming through the brush, he must haveclimbed the tree as a last resort, evidently hoping they might pass himby.
But he had not taken into consideration the fact that a scout wasleading the pursuing party, and that the sudden ending of his tracks wasbound to cause the trailer to survey the vicinity in the expectation oflocating his game.