"It's thar, all right, Thad," remarked Eli, with a grin. "Seems like the boy, he was right arter all, an' sum critter was a peekin' in at us."
Both Thad and Allan of course looked down at the ground. The guides held their blazing pine-knots closer, so that they could see better.
The impression of human foot could not be easily mistaken for the track of any sort of wild beast. Even the most ignorant tenderfoot scout that ever joined a troop must have known that fact at a glance.
But the patrol leader and the Maine boy seemed to discover something about the imprint of a shoe that caused them to stare. The balance of the scouts realized that something was about to happen beyond the ordinary: for they pushed in closer, and waited for either of the two experts to advance an opinion.
Allan looked at Thad, and the other returned his glance with a nod.
"Seen that track before, eh, Allan?" Thad remarked.
"I sure have, for a fact," replied the Maine lad, positively.
"Remember how you found a footprint at that other camp of ours, before the sheriff came along; it had a patch across the sole, and so has this one. So it stands to reason that the same fellow made both prints. And didn't Sheriff Green tell us the leader of those hobo burglars wore a shoe that had just this same criss-cross patch on the sole? That looks like we might be somewhere close to that bunch of rascals right now; and that the sheriff must have gone off on the wrong scent."
The other scouts listened to all this with wide-open eyes, and expressions of both amazement and eagerness; but it was Giraffe who voiced their feelings when he exclaimed, drawing in a long breath:
"Told you so!" Bumpus could not refrain from saying, in triumph.
"Suppose you let us know what the fellow looked like, Bumpus?" he remarked. "If we happen on him in any of our wanderings, it might be just as well that we knew the kind of customer we have to deal with. Can you describe him?"
"I'm afraid not, Thad," replied the fat boy, a little dejectedly. "You see, just as quick as he caught sight of me turning my eyes up there, he ducked. And all I saw was that he had a face, and a kinder hairy one at that."
"Oh! you mean he wore a beard?" asked the other.