CHAPTER XXII.
FOLLOWING THE TRAIL.
“Gee whiz!” exclaimed Hooker, astonished. “Who stole them?”
“That question,” admitted Sleuth, “I’m not ready to answer at present.I’ll focus my marvelous discerning intellect upon it after the would-bebank robbers are securely in limbo. I’ll guarantee that the possessearching for them are rushing hither and thither without rhyme, reasonor system. That’s no way to hunt the scoundrels down. Of course they mayblunder upon the fugitives by accident, but the trail should be taken upand followed in a scientific manner.”
“That’s easy enough to talk about,” said Roy; “but, without the aid ofbloodhounds, how is it to be done?”
“To begin with, we know they fled in this direction, for old Quinn sawthem running from the back of the bank and fired at them. They must havereached Middle Street a short distance away. It was impossible to followtheir tracks in the dark, but it’s now daylight, and I’m going to try topick up the trail.”
“A fine job you’ll do at that,” scoffed the other boy. “Even if youshould find their tracks, you’d need the skill of an Injun to follow’em.”
“We’ll see,” said Piper—“we’ll see about that. There’s a cedar hedgerunning from Main Street to Willow, and any person who dashed throughthat hedge at full speed must have left some tokens.”
“Let’s examine the hedge.”
In less than a minute Piper found a place where the branches of thetrimmed cedars were bent and broken. He pointed at it exultantly.
“There’s where one of them went through,” he declared.
“Perhaps it’s where some one, hurrying to the bank, came in from theother direction.”
“Use your eyes, Hook. The manner in which the cedars are twisted andbent shows that the person who passed through the hedge came from thisdirection, and he was in a hurry, too. Look here! What’s this, Roy? It’sblood—blood on the bushes!”
No wonder Roy’s eyes bulged as he beheld the slight bloodstain at whichhis companion pointed with a triumphant finger.
“Blood!” he muttered. “Why, then——”
“Old Quinn hit one of them, no question about it. There’s a woundedbank-breaker fleeing for his life somewhere.”
Both lads were now greatly excited, although Sleuth fought hard tomaintain such an air of coolness as he fancied would well become a greatdetective.
“By this trail of blood we’ll track him, Hooker,” he said. “If wecapture one of the rascals, perhaps he will squeal on his pals.”
“If _we_ capture him!” spluttered Roy. “What are you talking about? Doyou think we could do it alone? He’s a desperate man, and he’d fight——”
“Are you armed?”
“No.”
“Well, I am,” said Sleuth, displaying a small revolver. “It’s too badyou have no weapon, but, nevertheless, you may be of great assistance incapturing the man. If you’ve got nerve enough to stick by me, we’ll tryto run him down.”
“Hadn’t we better get others? Do you think we ought to try it alone?”
“If we call for assistance,” said Sleuth, “and the man is actuallycaptured, we’ll have to share the reward with others. You know there’s alarge reward offered for the apprehension of the man known as GentlemanJim, and it’s not impossible that the fellow who was winged by AaronQuinn is Gentleman Jim himself. If we take him, just you and I, we canwhack up on that reward money. I’ll agree to give you a fair share,providing you stand by me through thick and thin.”
“You’ve certainly got a nerve, Piper, to think of trying such a thing. Idon’t know about it, myself.”
“Oh, well, if you’re scared,” said Sleuth, with no attempt to suppresshis scorn, “I’ll go it alone. I thought you had more sand, Hook.”
“Well, nobody around here has ever figured that you were running overwith sand, yourself,” was the resentful retort. “I guess I’ve got asmuch as you have. Go ahead and see what you can do at this job oftrailing.”
Forcing their way through the hedge, they reached Middle Street, wherefor a moment Piper hesitated, as if considering the probable course thefugitive had taken.
“About the time the man got here,” he said, “Jonas Sylvester was wakingpeople up by his yells and shouts from the square in front of thepost-office. Under such circumstances, fearing to encounter some citizenof the town who had been aroused by Sylvester, the fleeing man wouldavoid the streets as far as possible. I should say he kept straightacross the road here and struck across lots for High Street.”
“Guesswork,” said Hooker.
“Deduction, reasoning, sound judgment,” flung back Sleuth, as he hurriedto examine the top rail of the old slat fence upon the northern side ofthe street; “and here’s my proof—a smooch of blood where the man graspedthe rail as he vaulted over the fence.”
“Jinks!” breathed Roy, gazing at the sanguine mark. “You’re right; it’sthere.”
Beyond the fence Piper continued northward, bending forward that hemight search the ground with his eyes. Again and again he pointed tofrozen blood-drippings upon the grass, and, at Sleuth’s heels, Roy felthis pulse throbbing with a touch of the fierce excitement thatinvariably seizes upon one who hunts fleeing men. For the first time inhis life he was beginning to believe that Piper had been underestimatedby those who had scoffed at his ambition to become a great detective.
Across High Street and into the neglected, old-fashioned horse sheds atthe rear of the Methodist church the two boys followed the trail. In oneof those sheds there was a little pool of blood, surrounded by similardrippings, at which Hooker stared in great fascination.
“He stopped here,” asserted Sleuth. “Concealed by the darkness, he hidin this shed for some little time. Perhaps he was led to do this throughexhaustion caused by the wound. Perhaps he did so because he heardcitizens running down Main Street toward the bank.”
“Gee!” said Roy, giving himself a shake. “If he’s hurt bad, we’re liableto come on him any minute. Why, we might have found him here, andperhaps he’d filled us full of lead. It’s ticklish business, Pipe.”
“He won’t be liable to fight unless cornered, and if we corner him wemust get him foul so he can’t pot us. Come on; time is precious.”
As if the flow from the wound had been partly staunched, the trail nowbecame decidedly more difficult to follow. Nevertheless, Sleuth tracedit to upper Main Street, some distance below the home of Urian Eliot.There it again led across the road and into the broad fields beyond.Through the midst of these fields ran a tiny brook, the banks of whichwere lined by scattering clumps of bushes. Here the brown grass wasrather tall, and the boys followed the man’s tracks with littledifficulty. At the point where the fugitive had started to cross thebrook a clay bank some three feet in height had caved beneath his feet.
“He took a tumble here,” said Piper. “There’s where he got on his pinsagain. See his tracks, Hook?”
The prints of the man’s feet were plainly to be seen, and, it being nomore than a foot wide at that point, he had crossed the brook at astride. On the western side the trail again led northward, and beforelong the boys paused within plain sight of the house of the Sages.
“Ah! ha!” breathed Sleuth, with an intonation of deep exultation. “Nowyou can see what he was doing. I’m sorry indeed for our mutual friend,Fred Sage; but duty is duty, and we must not falter.”
“It does look as if he made straight for the Sages’ place,” admittedRoy.
“No question about it,” nodded Sleuth, grasping his companion’s arm anddrawing him back. “Let’s preserve proper caution. We might be seen.”
“I don’t see anyone stirring around the place.”
“No, but you can see that the front door of the stable is standing opena bit. That door was not left thus all night long, you can bet on it.”
“I suppose they were woke up by the racket.”
“But why should they go to the
stable? If we locate our man there,Hooker, I’ll stay and keep watch while you go for the officers.”
“I don’t see how we’re going to——”
“We’ll have to retreat a distance, cross the road out of sight of thehouse and approach the buildings from the rear. That’s the propertrick.”
Hooker did not attempt an argument; he left the maneuver to be carriedthrough by Sleuth, whom he continued to follow without profferingadvice.
Crouching low when the road was reached, they darted across it, oneafter the other, circling until they could approach the stable of theSages from the rear. To their surprise, they perceived that the smallback door of the building also stood open. Their nerves taut andtingling, they presently found themselves beside that door, where, withone hand on his pistol and the other upheld as a signal for caution,Piper listened intently.
“Can you hear anything?” whispered Roy.
“No,” admitted Sleuth, “nothing that seems significant to me. I’m goingto look in. Keep still.”
Thrusting his head forward, he peered into the gloomy interior of thebuilding. After a few glances, reaching backward without turning, hebeckoned for the other lad to follow, and entered, walking on his toes.
They were in the very center of the stable floor when a sudden stampingand a snort caused them both to leap backward, Piper jerking up the handin which his nickle-plated revolver quivered tremulously. After a momenthe drew a breath of relief, turning a pallid face toward Roy as heexplained in a whisper:
“Nothing but their cow in the tie-up yonder.”
“Thunder!” sighed Sleuth’s companion. “She gave me an awful start. Don’tlook like we’ll find anything here, Pipe.”
“Wait. I have a theory into which I’ve been led by the sight of the opendoors, but it’s best to proceed carefully and not overlook anything.”
Ten seconds later, not five feet from the slightly opened front doors,Piper discovered something that added in no small degree to hisself-esteem. Upon the floor near a small grain box was a pool of blood,and beside that pool he perceived some shreds like ravellings from atorn cloth.
“Our man was here, Hooker,” he said.
“_Was_ here?” muttered Roy. “Then you think he’s gone?”
“I think his injury was bound up right here in this stable while he satthere upon that box. I don’t believe he did the work of bandaging thewound himself.”
“He must be in the house.”
“Don’t jump at conclusions. That’s the trouble with most people. That’show they lead themselves astray. The fellow came here. He must have beenpretty badly used up, too. Somebody tied up his injuries. Isn’t itlikely they realized the man would be traced by the blood-drippings? Andis it likely, in that case, that they would think of trying to hide himhere?”
“Why, I don’t know——”
“I don’t _know_, but I’m using logic, reasoning, horse sense. I sawsomething as we entered by that open back door which makes me confidentthat the fellow continued his flight in that direction. Beyond theorchard, out there, lie the woods to the north of Turkey Hill.”
“You think he hit out for those woods, do you?”
“I think so, but unless I can find evidence to confirm my belief we’llnot try to follow him haphazard.”
They left the stable by the door through which they had entered, andwhen they were outside Sleuth once more fell to searching the groundwith his eyes.
“Tracks!” he muttered. “There were two of them—two of them! And here’sthe proof that our man was one!”
He picked up a lump of half frozen clay which plainly had fallen fromthe boot of a man. It was the sort of clay into which the fugitive hadslumped when the brook bank gave way beneath his feet.
“You’re a wonder, Pipe,” declared Roy, his admiration unrestrained atlast.
“Spare the compliments,” said Sleuth briskly. “We’re off again.”
The trail led through the orchard, beyond which it was plain enough inthe hoarfrost which covered the ground.
“And these tracks weren’t made so long ago, either,” asserted Piper. “Itwon’t be so easy to follow them after we get into the woods. Too bad.”
In truth, it was not an easy matter, and they were proceeding withexasperating slowness when of a sudden Piper whirled and clutched hiscompanion, exclaiming in a hoarse whisper:
“Hark! Some one coming! Get to cover, Hooker—lively!”
Near by was a fallen tree. Sleuth cleared it with a bound, flinginghimself down behind the thick trunk. His example was followed by Roy,and there, amid a mass of leaves which the wind had swept into a littlehollow, they knelt, peering over the fallen tree.
Barely were they thus hidden when another boy came crashing at a runthrough some bushes and appeared in full view.
It was Fred Sage!