"Wow! did you see that?" gasped Bobolink, proving that his plaint about his eyes closing up could hardly be based on solid ground.
"Somebody struck a match, and it went out! Whoever it is, he's on the road just ahead of us, fellows!" whispered Jack.
"Back up into the scrub here. Quick! for perhaps he's got another match!" said Paul, following up his words by instant action.
They managed to cower down in the brush, though Bobolink muttered something to the effect that he had received another jab in the neighborhood of his wretched eyes.
"Look! he's done it, Paul, just as you said he would!" whispered Jack.
"Yes, he's shielding it from the breeze till it gets strong. There--well, what d'ye think of that, fellers?" gasped William.
"It's Ted!" muttered Wallace, staring hard at the figure that seemed to be huddled up on the road a little distance away.
"What do you suppose the silly goose is doing on his knees?" came from Jack.
"He's found something, and he's looking at it. See, now he's managed to open it up. Seems to me like a leather bag, boys," Wallace managed to wedge in with.
"Just what it is, old cat eyes. A hand bag! Now, however did that thing happen to be lying there in the road? Nobody ever comes up here but Solus, and he isn't the one to own a bag like that."
"The red car," said Paul, as Jack seemed to hesitate.
"That's it, as sure as you live. Dropped out of the machine; and by jinks! the fellers are comin' back to look for it. Never missed it till Sol got home!" his chum declared.
All this talk between the five boy scouts was carried on in the lowest of whispers. The sound of their voices would not have carried twenty feet; and the kneeling Ted was several times that distance away.
Besides, he seemed to be so fascinated by what he had discovered in the leather grip that he had eyes and ears for nothing else just then.
"The motor is coming closer!" remarked Wallace, as the sound of the engine was borne more distinctly to their ears.
"Sure. She's just at the top of the rise, and now it's down-grade. Reckon she'll be here in a minute. Push back further, fellows."
"Look! Ted hears it now! He's jumped up! Seems like he just don't know what to do, cut and run with the bag, or wait till the car gets there. Hey! watch that, will you?" gasped William.
