By a movement of his arm the leader announced that he did.
"Go slow now, fellows," warned Mark. "Don't anybody overrun him, and cut across the trail. Leave it to Elmer just now. If he wants us to help him he'll sing out all in good time."
"That goes, Mark," echoed Red; and in this way then the dozen scouts began to move along through the woods, losing sight of the road, and the cottage where the mourning mother continued to weep and pray.
Presently they saw that Elmer had changed his course. He was no longer heading directly into the west as at first, but had sheered more into the northwest.
"Begins to look like Elmer was right, and the police head wrong," remarked Matty.
"In what way?" asked Landy Smith, filled with curiosity as to what it meant.
"Why," Matt went on, "you remember that the man said he believed Dolph was heading for the road that would take him to Cramertown. Now, Elmer, he believed just the opposite, and that pretty soon Dolph would turn off to go deeper into the timber. And that's just what he seems to be doing, the slick skunk."
"Say, this thing keeps growing more exciting, the further you dip into it," declared Landy. "Already I'm dead sure I'm going to get heaps of fun out of the scout business. And after a while, perhaps we'll even run this fellow Dolph down."
"Sure thing," asserted Toby, confidently. "Just stake your faith on Elmer to do the little job. Yes, sir, we expect that to happen, sooner or later."
"And when you do, there's going to be some sort of a mix-up," continued Landy.