“Yes, and there was Alonzo Crane and Dit Hennesy, too, who told us they glimpsed him before he vanished into the brush. All three vowed it was a short-looking man with awfully broad shoulders and long arms, and that he bent over as he moved.”
“Granting all that,” persisted Dick, clinging to his rapidly forming theory, “it could have been an animal just the same.”
“A four-footed animal do you mean, Dick?”
“Why not?” came the steady reply. “Some animals that can be called four-footed sometimes walk on their two hind feet, such as monkeys and apes. Even bears can do the trick without much trouble; and we’ve seen elephants dancing in a circus, keeping their forelegs elevated all the while.”
Leslie gave a whistle to indicate his surprise.
“Look here, Dick, you’re getting close to the truth of this mystery, I just know it from your ways. Tell me what you think, please, Dick.”
“Wait a bit,” admonished the other. “Let’s look around here and see if we have any better luck than I did in the camp.”
“You mean hunting for signs, don’t you?”
“Yes, see if you can run across any footprint that doesn’t look like those the boys would make with their shoes,” he was advised.
Both busied themselves at that, bending low the better to examine closely every foot of the neighboring ground. It was Leslie who gave utterance to a cry this time.