The Ranger Boys and Their Reward

by Claude A. LaBelle

The final reason for believing this to be the proper trail lay in the fact that it was less brushy and thick along the bank of the brook, making it easier walking. Garry walked along for some distance, keeping his eyes glued to the ground in the hope of finding “sign” of some sort to show that his quarry had passed that way.

With a muffled exclamation he bent to the ground and picked up—another button.

Carefully comparing it with the other, he found them to be exactly alike. Then it dawned on him that Ruth in some manner must have been able to detach them from her clothing and was dropping them for the purpose of leaving a trail behind her.

Garry wondered if the locket might not also have been purposely dropped with the same idea in view. The discovery made him hasten his steps, and he fairly tore off yard after yard. The walking was none too easy, for it was not the soft flooring of the forest such as he had patrolled on his father’s land. Here the way was rough and uneven, and as he walked he noted that the grade tended to rise, and thought it would shortly get into hilly country.

Sometime later he found a third, and then a fourth button. After that he found no more. Each time that he had made a discovery, he had marked the spot carefully and made short detours from the path, to see if at any time the party had turned off.

This had naturally taken a great deal of precious time, and peering up into the sky through the branches of the trees, he discovered that he could not see the sun, and judged that it must be at least five in the afternoon.

Garry had gone nearly two miles after finding the last button, and since he could find no more, wondered if he had lost the trail. By the time he stopped to consider this, he found he was at the beginning of a sharp rise in the ground, and figured that he was at the foot of a hill. A few minutes’ hard walking convinced him of the truth of this thought, and he came to what was evidently the top of a high knoll or hill.

There was one thing left to do, and that was to climb a tree and sweep the surrounding country through his glasses in the hope of finding a clue. The brook which he had been following stopped at a spring almost at the top of the little hill. This spring naturally was the source of the brook, which likely ended in the Penocton River.

He selected the highest tree he could find, and since the branches did not begin for some feet from the ground, had recourse to the method he and his chums used.

This consisted of taking a long piece of cord, or better still a stout wire, and circling it around his person and the tree. By alternately lifting this and bracing his heels against the tree, he was able to edge himself up inch by inch till he could reach one of the branches.