Perhaps it was a good thing he kept himself on the alert, for while Tom Smith was a woodsman, and might have seen what attracted the attention of the scout-master, there could be no telling. And had it not been discovered, they might have found what Giraffe would call “rougher sledding” later on.
They happened to be in a particularly thick patch of scrub and woodland where Thad felt more than half convinced that if the fugitive had thought to lay any sort of trap the springing of which would give him warning of the coming of enemies he must have chosen this place; when he made a little discovery that caused him to instantly clutch the arm of Tom Smith, and say softly:
“Hold on!”
Others of the party gripped their guns, and looked eagerly around, under the impression that Thad must have sighted a hovering figure back of some tree; and no doubt half expecting to hear the crash of a gun break the silence that hung over the spot. But nothing of the kind came to pass. Instead, Thad drew the guide several steps along, and then pointed to the brush close at their feet.
“Well, what d’ye think of that?” Bumpus remarked, as he pushed forward the better to see; “if he hasn’t put an old rope across the path just to trip us up, and make all the trouble he can.”
Giraffe looked scornfully at the fat scout.
“Think so, do you, Bumpus?” he remarked, with a lofty sense of his own sagacity. “Well, if you happened to trip over that same rope, chances are now you’d hear a gun go off. P’raps the load might miss you, though I don’t see how anything could do that; but all the same, the bang of the gun’d tell Mr. Jasper it was time he took to the woods, and ran like a scared rabbit. So you see what Thad’s shut off by his find.”
CHAPTER XXII.
THE MAN-TRAP.
“Seems like it took a scout to do the job, and make such an important discovery!” Step Hen hastened to remark, apparently proud of the fact that he too wore that magical khaki uniform.
“But where’s the gun, I don’t see?” demanded Bumpus, who seldom allowed himself to wholly believe things, until he understood all the details, for he could be very practical when he wanted.