“Well, what’s the matter with you?” he cried.
“Nothing,” returned Terry, mildly. “I’ve never really seen an important man before and I wanted to get a good look now that I am close to one!”
“Say, I’ll run you kids—” began the angry sheriff, as a slight snicker went up. But Don cut him short.
“Come on, you fellows,” he called. “We have work to do. No use standing around wasting breath on useless subjects.”
“Nice kindly old soul, that sheriff,” growled Vench, when the cadets were again outside.
“He isn’t worth thinking about,” said Don. “Now, boys, let’s get on the job.”
Their first job was to look under the grape arbor, but scores of feet had churned up the ground so that nothing could be learned from it. They left the yard and struck off into the woods.
“Too bad we couldn’t find a clue under the arbor,” grumbled Terry.
“I doubt if there were any clues,” advanced Jim. “Some of the men would have seen them in the first place. After all, we aren’t detectives, and our job is to beat up the Ridge much in the manner of going over it with a fine-tooth comb.”
“That is true,” nodded Vench. “Suppose we don’t run across her tonight? Are you going back to camp?”