Elmer kept his three scout chums with him.
"We'll hunt in a bunch, fellows," he had declared. "The Chief doesn't want us around him, so we'll look in other places. Perhaps we can get trace of the ones we're looking for."
"I just bet on you to figure it out, Elmer," remarked the confident Landy.
"Shucks; Elmer could give that big bluffer all the handicap going, and then beat him out. He don't know beans, that's what," snorted Ty, looking scornfully over to where the important party in uniform was walking about, giving orders in a loud and consequential tone.
"Tell uth what to do, Elmer," said Ted; "and we'll poke into every rat hole in th' old plathe."
"One thing's sure," the patrol leader went on, as he looked thoughtfully about him, "if they made up their minds to hide here, then they must have tunneled under the hay, because that is the best of places for staying concealed."
"I second that motion," declared Ty, nodding his head.
"And so we must keep on the watch for any signs of a hole under the hay," Elmer continued, as he ran his eye along the base of the mow close by.
"Huh! looks to me like hunting for a needle in a haystack!" declared Ty, after they had been industriously at work for several minutes, without any success.
"Only one needle this time; the other's a blunt-headed pin," chuckled Landy.