"It was Bill, all right," said Skinny. "We've struck the trail at last."
We went down to the road and talked it over.
"He passed here," said Skinny, "on time and going north, and he didn't pass through the Gingham Ground. We feel sure of that much. He must have turned off somewhere in the next half-mile."
"We know something else," I told him. "He couldn't have turned east, because the river is in the way and there isn't any bridge."
We made up our minds to separate, one party to work north from where we were standing; one to work south from the Gingham Ground, and the others to work in between, to see if we could find where he had left the road.
"Look for a sign," said Skinny, "and look on the west side. There isn't much chance for finding footprints."
Hank was the one who found it. We heard him yell and went to him on a run.
He came out to the roadside and waited for us, waving his hat in the air, he was so excited; then, when we had come up, took us back from the road through a sort of lane, which pretty soon turned south and wound off through the woods.
Just at the turn stood a big stone, out of sight from the road. That is why we had not seen it before. On the stone was something which set us all yelling.
It was a circle and in the circle was the picture of a crow and there was an arrow. It was the Scout sign for "I took this path." The crow meant that whoever drew the sign belonged to Raven Patrol. We knew then that it was Bill.